Mayors reveal plan for new Manchester to Birmingham railway

It found the WCML was “among the least reliable railways in Europe”, with much of the track network being built in the Victorian era.

“Sections of the WCML north of Lichfield will not be able to support any significant increase in freight capacity in the north, Wales and Scotland,” the report said.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the failure to replace the railway would become “a huge barrier to growth in the country that the government says it wants”.

“There is no way on God’s earth that the current West Coast Main Line and the M6 can be relied upon for decades,” he added.

“If you put in this extra connecting piece between those two areas, you will then have a network that can support growth in London, the south east, the Midlands, and, of course, the north west.”