To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether proposals for Northern Powerhouse Rail are based on city centre to city centre connectivity and on ensuring half-hour journeys between Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester.

Northern Powerhouse Rail is the government and Transport for the North’s shared vision to dramatically improve frequencies and journey times between the city centres of Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Hull, Newcastle, and Manchester Airport.

The aspiration for journey times between Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester is 30 minutes.

Since the publication of the March 2015 Northern Transport Strategy, the government and Transport for the North have undertaken significant work to understand what the capability of the rail infrastructure would need to be, by route, to deliver such transformational connectivity.

An updated Strategy will be published in the spring.