For passenger rail travel, the north of England was the future, once. But since that first train from Darlington to Stockton in 1825, many have felt short-changed. As one angry passenger put it, 200 years later: “What is it about the rail industry which makes them think they can treat passengers in the north as second-class citizens?”
That complaint came from the former mayor of Greater Manchester, who frequently set out a different vision for the train services he would like. Now that Andy Burnham is in No 10, he has the opportunity to win those battles – or perhaps see them a little differently. For now, what unresolved issues could the railway expect to be pursued with greater urgency?
A new fast line from Birmingham to Manchester
“There’s frustration and anger … I don’t see how you can take a plan that goes beyond the life of any individual government and basically tear it up at a party conference.” (Burnham, October 2023)
When Rishi Sunak, then prime minister, axed the northern leg of HS2 at the Conservative conference in Manchester in 2023, Burnham led the cries of betrayal. But he also started investigating alternative schemes, with two consecutive mayors of the West Midlands, for a line connecting their city regions. Building on some of the work already done, and safeguarding land acquired for HS2, the scheme that eventually emerged looked suspiciously like the old line but “quickly and crucially at a significantly lower cost”.
In January, government rail plans set out under Keir Starmer included an “intention to build” a new line connecting Birmingham and Manchester, once other northern aspirations – see below – were fulfilled.
Earlier this month, the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: “When we made that announcement, what I agreed with Andy is that we would also do a study about how you address the capacity constraints on the west coast mainline between Birmingham and Manchester […] I’m fully expecting the new prime minister to tell me to put some rocket boosters under that study, perhaps to do it a bit quicker.”
Better intercity services than Avanti
“Avanti should have been left on probation. People in Greater Manchester deserve a stable, predictable rail service between here and London and it is simply not acceptable. It is one kick in the teeth after another.” (Burnham, 20 October 2023)
The triumphant arrival of Burnham as the newly elected Makerfield MP in London was highly anticipated – but, taking the Avanti West Coast train, unsurprisingly delayed. The intercity operator is significantly improved from its post-Covid nadir, with a fleet overhaul and steady restoration of the timetable, but punctuality and cancellations remain among the worst in Britain, and industrial relations issues are not resolved.
Burnham opposed the renewal of Avanti’s contract, and one way or another, he will soon have the service back in public hands. All train operations are being folded into the new Great British Railways, with Avanti expected to be renationalised in spring 2027. Continued poor results could conceivably bring that forward. A government source said: “We recognise Avanti isn’t performing and all options are on the table to improve that.”
With Burnham’s nascent No 10 North requiring parts of government – indeed, the PM himself – to shuttle swiftly between the cities, the planned change in ownership alone may not be enough.
The local government professor Tony Travers says: “The service delivery is clearly way below acceptable. Having some of the most senior people in government trying to use it will test whether it can be made better.
“It brings into very precise focus the question of whether they can improve the west coast mainline: either it can and it makes people think it should have been done before – or it can’t, and it’s an insoluble policy question.”
NPR – and the underground station at Manchester Piccadilly
“We will never accept anything other than an underground station at Piccadilly. For us, that land is the prime economic development opportunity of the north of England.” (Burnham, December 2025)
The price tag for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), as set by Labour in January, is a maximum £45bn – although detailed plans have yet to be drawn up. Burnham was most associated with what is now phase 2, under the latest iteration: a largely new, faster Liverpool-Manchester line.
But the PM’s longstanding claim was that the city at the heart of NPR needed a new Manchester Piccadilly station to be built underground. Estimates given for such a station when the city was part of HS2’s plans were an extra £5bn.
Burnham maintained it was worth it. Partly, for rail reasons: allowing fast trains to cross Manchester and hence the north across the NPR route. But he also maintained that the city centre would be blighted by a “line on stilts”, as others termed it, and lose its chance for the kind of regeneration London has seen around King’s Cross.
Nonetheless, a recent public accounts committee report warned of “difficult trade-off decisions between local areas … an underground station at Manchester is expected to be more costly and could therefore reduce the budget available for additional development in other localities”.
Rather than pit himself against the claims of other cities, Burnham talked up a Crossrail-style fundraising model, with supplementary business rates paid and cities borrowing against future fares. That worked to fund the Elizabeth line in London, but as Travers points out, from a much bigger population and business base: “It would have to be a substantial payment from business rates in Greater Manchester – I am not sure it would go down well.”
Cities controlling urban rail lines
“By removing freight trains from the city centre, the railways will work better for everyone.” (Burnham, January 2025)
Last year, Burnham unveiled the next phase in his plans for Manchester’s Bee Network, the integrated transport system founded primarily on the buses that he took back under public control. By 2030, 96 national rail stations in the city region are planned to be branded in the yellow Bee livery and “brought up to an exemplar Greater Manchester standard”.
That would allow local rail services to come under the network’s fare cap, and start work “to improve reliability and implement service changes”. While the plan emphasised that Manchester would explore “opportunities to optimise both freight and passenger journeys”, the talk of removing freight trains alarmed their operators, already concerned by safeguards under the planned Great British Railways.
In Downing Street, he has emphasised the desire for more devolution and strengthening mayors’ hands. Great British Railways is also expected to be a largely devolved structure by regions, with track and train integrated.
But it is also supposed to be a “guiding mind” for the railways: balancing the needs of freight, open access, long distance and commuter services, and trying to move away from ministerial and Department for Transport micromanagement.
The power outage at a regional control centre in Manchester last week, with disruption rippling out, underlined how interconnected the whole railway remains. With devolution, GBR may be freeing itself from Whitehall and finding a new layer of political involvement to navigate.
