Government announces £3.9bn for rail upgrades in northern England

The overall scheme promises to improve speed and reliability between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds (pictured) and York

The government has pledged £3.9bn for a rail project to improve connectivity in northern England.

The investment promises to accelerate the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds, and York - resulting in faster and more frequent journeys.

It has already invested £3bn into the work, which vows to deliver fully-electrified rail services.

It comes after a HS2 link between Birmingham and Manchester was axed.

At the Conservative party conference in October, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government would "reinvest every single penny" saved from cancelling the remainder of the rail project.

Speaking on Monday, Rail Minister Huw Merriman said: "The TRU represents the first major step in delivering transformed east-west connectivity in the north and I'm delighted to announce this multibillion-pound funding boost to move to the next stage of delivery.

"Today's announcement demonstrates this government's commitment to delivering its Network North plan which will improve journeys, help to level up regions and grow the economy."

The funding will be invested in doubling the number of tracks from two to four between Huddersfield and Ravensthorpe, allowing faster trains to overtake slower stopping services and freight journeys.

Once complete in the mid-2030s, the upgrade will offer up to eight trains per hour, hundreds of extra seats and cut journey times between Manchester and York by 10 minutes, the government promised.

Rail Minister Huw Merriman (l) met with Neil Holm, the managing director of TRU, in West Yorkshire on Monday

Neil Holm, managing director for the rail project, said: "TRU is well under way with building the infrastructure that bring passengers more frequent, faster, greener trains, that run on a better, cleaner and more reliable railway for generations to come.

"This commitment by the government to our programme allows us to move two of our largest projects from design into construction and delivery."

Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, welcomed the announcement but described it as "confirmation of previously-committed funds".

"At the moment the services are falling apart because there isn't the capacity to run enough of them," he said.

"That means you can't move the numbers of people that want to travel across the Pennines by rail, so they will be on the M62 motorway as that's the only option."

He continued: "If you want to get much more reliable and frequent services the only way to do that is to build a new line."

Analysis: Spencer Stokes, business and transport correspondent, BBC Look North

It was back in 2011 that George Osborne, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, first announced the trans-Pennine line would be upgraded and electrified to speed up journey times between some of the north's biggest cities.

The project was then delayed, redesigned and "paused", in government speak.

It was finally given the go-ahead in December 2021.

The total cost is thought to be around £11bn - representing one of the biggest rail upgrades in the country.

Today's £3.9bn funding announcement means a total of £6.9bn has now been handed over to the project.

When the work is complete, trains will travel between Leeds and Manchester in around 42 minutes.

But Network Rail says it'll be the 2030s before the full upgrade is finished.