Said Cllr Liam Robinson Chair of the Merseytravel Committee:



This week has seen a focus on big numbers and big potential with the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review identifying that a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ – supported by significant investment in transport infrastructure – could lead to the creation of 850,000 new jobs and a £97 billion boost to the economy by 2050.

As a City Region, through our Linking Liverpool campaign, we’ll continue to push the economic and technical case for full high speed links north, south and east, west to be realised through a new line between Liverpool and Manchester connecting onto the planned HS2 line at Golborne.

However, as that work goes on we can’t lose sight of those opportunities we have to shape and improve the existing transport network in the shorter term. This year has already seen the start of the new franchises for Northern and Transpennine which Merseytravel, on behalf of the Liverpool City Region, has helped influence to getter a better deal for people in our area. By 2019 this will result in even higher quality trains, more frequent services and new services to Scotland.

This is significant improvement, but we’re not stopping there. We’re now giving our views on what we would want to see in the franchise specifications for the new Intercity West Coast franchise, currently operated by Virgin, which is due to be commence in April 2018.

We currently get an hourly service between Liverpool Lime Street, Runcorn and Euston but we believe two services an hour would help support the City Region’s economic growth and meet latent demand that we know is there.

We also want a new direct service to Milton Keynes. There is significant demand for this with current travellers having to change trains at Crewe, Chester or Manchester to get there. Again if there is demand passengers should be helped, not hindered.

We believe there is untapped potential at Liverpool South Parkway where lengthened platforms would allow Liverpool- London services to call, not only giving Liverpool-bound passengers more options in getting around the City Region but also benefitting passengers travelling to and from Liverpool John Lennon Airport and supporting its growth.

Finally we have aspirations for people in St Helens to benefit from direct London services on the newly electrified Chat Moss line. While we recognize that infrastructure improvements would be required to accommodate the trains and the capacity for this, we are rightly ambitious for those in our city region.

While there is much attention on the big ‘show stopper’ transport projects, we’re working hard in the City Region to ensure that we take every opportunity, at every level, to get the best deal for those who live and work here, supporting and growing the economy in the process.