The High Speed North project aims to address the problem of public transport journey times between the major cities in the North of England.
Present-day rail connections between cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds are slow compared to comparable journeys made by commuters across Greater London.
By improving transport connections, it is proposed that commuters will be able to travel more freely to their places of work, allowing the Northern cities to compete together as one large single economy, rather than competing against one another.
The Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme is promoted by the combined public transport authority Transport for the North (TfN) and, according to analysis by TfN, currently fewer than 10,000 people in the North can access four or more of the north’s largest economic centres within 60 minutes.
This could rise to around 1.3 million once High Speed North is fully delivered.

A plan to improve rail journey times in northern England, the Northern Hub or, as currently called, the Great North Rail Project, was developed from a 2009 scheme to improve the rail network around Manchester.
Schemes to improve the Leeds-Manchester line speed by 2014 were included in Network Rail's CP5 improvements, with an aim to reduce Manchester-Leeds journey times by 15 minutes.
In 2011, the approximately £290 million electrification of the trans-Pennine Manchester-Leeds line was given funding.
Work started on the electrification in 2013.

Journey times and service frequency between Northern cities
The current expected service frequencies and journey times from High Speed North:
The High Speed North project aims to address the problem of public transport journey times between the major cities in the North of England. Present-day rail connections between cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds are slow compared to comparable journeys made by commuters across Greater London. By improving transport connections, it is proposed that commuters will be able to travel more freely to their places of work, allowing the Northern cities to compete together as one large single economy, rather than competing against one another. The Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme is promoted by the combined public transport authority Transport for the North (TfN) and, according to analysis by TfN, currently fewer than 10,000 people in the North can access four or more of the north’s largest economic centres within 60 minutes. This could rise to around 1.3 million once High Speed North is fully delivered.
A plan to improve rail journey times in northern England, the Northern Hub or, as currently called, the Great North Rail Project, was developed from a 2009 scheme to improve the rail network around Manchester. Schemes to improve the Leeds-Manchester line speed by 2014 were included in Network Rail's CP5 improvements, with an aim to reduce Manchester-Leeds journey times by 15 minutes. In 2011, the approximately £290 million electrification of the trans-Pennine Manchester-Leeds line was given funding. Work started on the electrification in 2013.
Journey times and service frequency between Northern cities
The current expected service frequencies and journey times from High Speed North:
High Speed North