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<p>By 2020 we will have spent over £13bn improving and modernising transport in the
North of England. This investment includes providing better rail journeys through
the Great North Rail Project. We have also upgraded the network between Liverpool
and Manchester and the two new franchises are delivering more than 500 brand-new train
carriages, with room for 40,000 more passengers and 2,000 extra services a week. In
Liverpool City Region, £340m is being invested between now and 2019 to provide a bigger,
better, more reliable railway for passengers.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed
to Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) – a transformational programme to bring the cities
of the North closer together with faster and more frequent rail links. At Budget the
Chancellor announced a further £37m to develop the scheme. This is on top of the £60m
we have made available to Transport for the North to develop the business case for
the scheme by the end of this year and will include an assessment of the economic
benefits of the scheme.</p><p> </p><p>HS2 brings similar benefits in improved connectivity
between the major cities of the North and Midlands. The HS2 business case shows over
£92 billion of benefits including £18 billion of wider benefits e.g. – delivering
more than £2 of benefits for every £1 of investment. This represents good value for
money and is in line with other major rail schemes.</p><p> </p><p>HS2 is also critical
in engineering terms to delivering Northern Powerhouse Rail as HS2 infrastructure
is assumed to be used by NPR services. The Chancellor announced £300m in October 2017
to ensure that HS2 is future-proofed for Northern Powerhouse Rail.</p><p> </p>
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