Andy Burnham continues fight for new platforms at Piccadilly Station

Andy Burnham said promises made for the north's rail infrastructure had not been delivered

Greater Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham has said he has not "given up" fighting for new platforms at Manchester Piccadilly station.

He said platforms 15 and 16 - promised around a decade ago - should not be abandoned despite the plans being ditched earlier this year.

The new platforms were supposed to ease congestion in the north of England.

This would allow more trains to run through the Castlefield corridor in Manchester city centre.

The plans were withdrawn in May when Network Rail described them as "hugely expensive" and "incredibly disruptive".

Transport for the North (TfN) - a body set up to make the case for investment in regional infrastructure - has revised its formal recommendations to the government, removing any reference to the new platforms.

Platforms 15 and 16 were promised around a decade ago

Last week, former TfN boss Jim Bamford told northern leaders that they "shouldn't give up on pressing the government".

It comes after TfN's Rail North Committee, which the Labour mayor chairs, endorsed the new statutory advice despite concerns it did not mention platforms 15 and 16.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that Mr Burnham shared the concerns with the board and said the new platforms should still be on the table as no alternative had been put forward.

He added: "We are in no way saying that we've given up on platforms 15 and 16."

TfN said its revised statutory advice focused on outcomes such as more capacity, better performance and reliability, rather than specific outputs. The TfN board also called for major schemes such as HS2 to be completed.

It follows weeks of speculation over the future of the high-speed rail project which ministers are reportedly considering scaling back. According to reports, the northern leg of HS2 could be scrapped.

'How much has been delivered?'

Mr Burnham said: "It's 10 years since George Osborne came to Manchester and made his famous Northern Powerhouse speech which promised HS2, HS3, Trans-Pennine route upgrades, platforms 15 and 16 at Manchester Piccadilly. All of that was promised, but how much of that has been delivered?

"This is what's at stake here. We can't anymore live in a country where big promises like that are made and then people walk away from them."

Last week, the Department for Transport said that Network Rail's plans for platforms 15 and 16 were withdrawn because they "neither addressed present nor future demand or represented good use of taxpayers' money".