Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are, or are expected to be, the fastest scheduled passenger train times (1) now, (2) following the proposed electrification and other improvement works to existing trans-Pennine lines, and (3) following the construction of HS3, between (a) Leeds and Manchester, (b) Sheffield and Manchester, (c) Liverpool and York, (d) Liverpool and Hull, (e) Manchester and Liverpool, and (f) Leeds and Hull.

(1) The fastest scheduled passenger train journeys today are as follows:

(a) Leeds-Manchester Victoria 49 minutes;
Leeds-Manchester Piccadilly 51 minutes
(b) Sheffield-Manchester 51 minutes
(c) Liverpool-York 1 hour 54 minutes
(d) Liverpool-Hull 2 hours 57 minutes (no direct service; change at Leeds)
(e) Manchester Victoria-Liverpool 32 minutes;
Manchester Piccadilly-Liverpool 46 minutes
(f) Leeds-Hull 55 minutes

(2) The fastest journey times following electrification and other improvement works will depend on the design of the various infrastructure elements of the network. The details of the designs will not be known until December 2017 at the earliest. Once the characteristics of the designs are known, it should be possible to estimate the effects on the journey times in question. Network Rail has been set the target of achieving 40 minutes Leeds‑Manchester by the end of 2022.

(3) The report of the Northern Transport Strategy published on 7 March 2016, included the shared vision of Transport for the North and central government for future journey times:

(a) Leeds-Manchester 30 minutes;
(b) Sheffield-Manchester 30 minutes

(c) Liverpool-York 1 hour 15 minutes

(d) Liverpool-Hull 1 hour 35 minutes

(e) Manchester-Liverpool 20 minutes;

(f) Leeds-Hull 45 minutes.