A modern railway for a resurgent North

Greater Manchester brings people and ideas together. Its businesses, universities and cultural institutions draw talent and investment from across the North and the wider country, and its prosperity is interlinked with that of neighbouring towns and cities. Better transport strengthens those relationships, helping businesses grow and opening up jobs and opportunities to more people.

That is why I welcome the Transpennine Route Upgrade. This £11billion investment in the railway between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York brings our economies closer together. For Greater Manchester, better journeys across the Pennines mean stronger links with Yorkshire’s businesses, universities and workforce, and more reasons for employers to invest in the North.

My background in transport planning has shown me how much these connections shape everyday decisions. The time a journey takes, its cost and whether it can be relied upon all influence whether someone can take a job or a business can recruit the people it needs. A dependable railway broadens the choices people have about where to work without leaving the place they call home. It also helps businesses reach customers, find suppliers and recruit beyond their immediate area. These are things that my constituents in Heywood and Middleton North understand acutely.

Those individual decisions add up. When firms can draw on a wider range of skills and people can find work that makes better use of their talents, the economy becomes more productive. TRU’s economic case identifies £693 million in wider economic benefits. Better rail links can also encourage investment around stations and support new homes and workplaces, giving towns across the route a greater share in the North’s growth.

For that investment to follow, businesses need confidence that the railway improvements will happen. As a former member of the Transport Select Committee, I still take a close interest in how investment translates into results for passengers and taxpayers. I have seen the impressive scale of the programme on the ground personally and TRU is being delivered on time and on budget, an encouraging record for an investment of this scale. It gives employers, councils and investors firmer ground on which to make their own plans, while demonstrating that Britain can get on with delivering major infrastructure.

There are lessons here for future projects. TRU is upgrading a working railway, with all the challenges that brings, and bringing improvements into use in stages. Passengers benefit as work progresses, while the teams delivering it build experience they can apply to the next stage. That approach deserves attention as we look at how to deliver the infrastructure the country needs.

The economic contribution is already being felt. TRU has reported now over £1bn million spent with local businesses and a workforce of around 5,000, approximately 80% of whom live within 40 miles of the route. Its support for 480 apprentices also means people are gaining qualifications and experience that can sustain careers long after construction concludes. TRU is the foundation of great capability and the North will need those skills for the investments that follow.

TRU should also help us get more from the wider transport network. It’s already delivering phase one of Northern Powerhouse Rail and alongside the wider NPR programme, future trains and stronger local services, it can make journeys across the North work better from beginning to end. More capacity for freight matters too, helping businesses move goods between ports, towns and major markets and strengthening the supply chains on which they depend.

As a Greater Manchester MP, I want our region’s growth to open doors across the North and contribute to a stronger national economy - and for our towns to feel the same benefits as our cities. Better rail links can help make that happen, particularly when we bring them together with investment in homes, skills and employment, giving my constituents access to opportunities that otherwise would be out of reach. TRU is already supporting businesses and careers here, and its progress gives us confidence to plan for more. We should tap into that confidence to make the most of what this investment can achieve.