The plan to build Northern Powerhouse Rail is reported to be back on the government’s agenda, and it could include a new railway on the alignment of HS2 between Crewe and Manchester.

The Prime Minister could announce the change of heart at the Labour Party conference on 28 September. Alternatively, the announcement may be made in advance of the conference, in a bid to reassure backbenchers.

Sir Keir Starmer has been under pressure to revive NPR since last year’s election placed Labour in power.

The Transpennine Route Upgrade is in progress, with 25 per cent of the route between Manchester and York now electrified, but NPR would run right across northern England from Liverpool to Hull, as well as including the restoration of HS2 between Manchester and Crewe, and possibly further south.

Land bought for HS2 to Manchester has not been sold, although former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had wanted to do so after axeing the sections north of the West Midlands in 2023.

The campaign to revive NPR has been vigorously backed by business leaders and politicians.

They include the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who has been calling for better rail links as set out in the original vision for NPR. He has also warned that running trains at high speed to Birmingham and then more slowly to Crewe and Manchester would be ‘a monument to the British mentality’.

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