BETTER RAIL CONNECTIONS FOR NORTH WEST AS ADONIS OPENS £8.9BN UPGRADE: MANCHESTER & LIVERPOOL NOW TWO HOURS FROM LONDON
Britain is now better connected and rail passengers in the North West are benefitting from quicker journeys and more frequent services as Rail Minister Andrew Adonis officially opened the upgraded £8.9bn West Coast Mainline.
The line, which runs from London to Glasgow serving destinations including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, has been completely overhauled over the past five years. The upgrade means that Manchester and Liverpool are now just over two hours from London by train - down from nearly three hours in 2004 - with Manchester benefitting from a train to London every 20 minutes throughout the day. The route is the UK’s main rail artery and one of the most intensively used lines in Europe, accommodating many long-distance passenger trains, local and regional passenger services and handling 40 per cent of the nation's rail freight.
Andrew Adonis said: "Getting to this point has not been easy. That we are here today is testament both to the hard work of Network Rail and the Government's continuing commitment to this vital project. "It is easy to lose sight of how this work has changed the transport map of Britain and brought real improvements for rail passengers. Five years ago, Manchester was nearly three hours from London and was served by barely one train an hour. Today trains reach Manchester in two hours and run every twenty minutes throughout the day. "This project helps to better connect Britain. Businesses rely on it both to move their people and to move their freight, giving them the connections they need to help our economy through these difficult times."
Beverley Hughes, Regional Minister for the North West, said: "This upgrade means the North West is better connected to the rest of the country, giving us quicker and more frequent train services, to the benefit of passengers and businesses alike. "Today the trip from London to Manchester takes around two hours - down from nearly three hours in 2004 - and there are more than double the number of services." Passenger numbers on the line have doubled since 2004 while improved journey times have caused a massive shift from air to rail on the busy Manchester to London route with rail now accounting for two-thirds of journeys, up from one third in 2004. Weekend travellers will also be a major beneficiary of the upgrade's completion with far fewer engineering closures and an almost doubling of weekend trains. Future closures will be confined to the late Saturday evening/early Sunday morning period or holiday periods when passenger volumes are lower.
Work will now continue to help improve resilience and capacity on the line. Four extra Pendolino trains have been ordered to help ensure that the new higher frequency services are more resilient to disruption, while 31 existing Pendolinos are to be lengthened from nine to eleven carriages to provide extra capacity on the route.