Prime Minister Boris Johnson today told the Conservative Party Conference the government will link up the cities of the Midlands and the North.
The PM said our national infrastructure is way behind some of our key competitors, while adding it is a “disgrace” that you still can’t swiftly cross the Pennines by rail. He went on to confirm the government “will do Northern Powerhouse Rail“.
Responding to the comments in the speech, Tim Wood, Transport for the North’s Director of Northern Powerhouse Rail, said: “It was good to hear the Prime Minister say that the greatest challenge for the country was levelling up its economy and its society and that building Northern Powerhouse Rail was central to that.
“Like us, he recognised that poor rail links across the North are contributing to the national imbalance in our economy and called transport ‘the supreme leveller upper’.
“We have worked collaboratively with the government over the past two years to come up with a blueprint for a new rail network that will free the North from the constraints of poor infrastructure that have held it back for far too long.
“We need now to move at pace to make this NPR a reality. We stand ready to work with the Government to deliver for the North and for the whole country.”
