Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the economic merits of (a) maintaining and (b) improving the rail infrastructure in Merseyside.

The Government and Liverpool City Region are investing over £300m in the region to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for local and national rail passengers. We are seeing the real, tangible benefits of that investment already at Liverpool Lime Street, including major upgrades to platforms and signalling at this great Victorian station, which will enable three new services per hour in and out of Lime Street before 2020, including direct services to Scotland.

The Government continues to make record levels of funding available for the railway, including up to £47.9bn for the operation, maintenance, renewal and enhancement of the railway in the next five year Control Period (2019-2024).

We have recently published details of our new approach for rail network enhancement proposals and guidance for promoters and investors on market led proposals. We will be taking TfN’s advice on the priorities for the North of England.

Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) has the potential to provide significant benefits to Liverpool by improving the capacity and connectivity for rail services from Liverpool City Region to Warrington, Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly. It also provides the potential for faster services from Liverpool to London via HS2. We are working closely with TfN to assess a range of options to inform the Strategic Outline Business Case for NPR due at the end of this year.