Region's D-Day on transport dreams is near

A LIST of unresolved transport headaches has been growing in Greater Manchester for several years now.

The city-region is still awaiting answers on publicly-announced plans to build a new railway to Liverpool; a previously-funded underground Piccadilly railway station; promised two ground-level platforms at the same terminus; the question on how high-speed rail trains will reach Manchester after the high-speed track ends in Birmingham; and if the private sector could help build a highspeed rail link between the two cities.

That’s alongside unresolved questions on the Castlefield corridor railway, and the future of freight trains as the new Parkside East depot in St Helens becomes a reality.

Andy Burnham says he’s been waiting on some of those answers since he became mayor – sevenand-a-half years ago.

However, tentative progress has been made on answering those questions, courtesy of new transport secretary Lou Haigh.