Northern hub will provide boost to Warrington

Warrington South MP David Mowat today welcomed the announcement in the Autumn Statement that work would soon begin on the "Northern Hub" project which is designed to increase the speed and frequency of rail services in the North West.

The Northern Hub project would see a new section of track known as the "Ordsall Chord" built to connect Manchester Victoria Station with Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations, relieving a major bottleneck in the region. This is in addition to the electrification of the line between Liverpool and Manchester and track improvements on transpennine routes to Leeds and Sheffield.

Network Rail has said that the improved infrastructure will mean quicker and more frequent services throughout the North West, knocking 10 minutes off the journey time from Liverpool to Manchester and another ten minutes off services heading through Warrington Central to Leeds and Sheffield.

David Mowat said:

"These major infrastructure plans should be welcomed by commuters in Warrington, particularly those who use transpennine routes on a regular basis. There are few things more irritating than when your already-delayed express train gets stuck behind a slow-moving service, holding you up even further. Hopefully that will soon be a thing of the past.

"The Coalition Government is committed to major transport infrastructure projects that bring prosperity to the North West and economic growth. As well as safeguarding skilled construction jobs, the project also has the potential to open up new business opportunities within the region."