Northern Powerhouse Rail compact agreement – Greater Manchester Combined Authority

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Greater Manchester
1. As Secretary of State for Transport, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary of State
for Housing, Communities & Local Government, and Mayor of Greater Manchester
respectively, we have confirmed our shared ambition to unlock growth across the
Northern Growth Corridor and address historic underinvestment in the North’s rail
network. We will work together to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) as a
phased programme that, building on the Transpennine Route Upgrade, will release
benefits at each stage. Work will progress across the whole NPR network throughout,
but will be delivered in three broad stages: electrification and upgrades in the Leeds-
Bradford, Leeds-Sheffield and Leeds-York corridors, including the stations; in parallel,
development works to progress and then delivery of the major new line planned for
Liverpool-Manchester; and then further cross-Pennine connections. We will work
jointly to refine and confirm the exact scope, costs, outputs and benefits of the
scheme, ensuring it is deliverable and appropriately sequenced, and that consenting
and planning processes are carried out efficiently as the project moves into delivery.
2. We welcome the £1.1bn funding allocated for NPR development in this Spending
Review period, allowing development work for the first two phases to proceed
without delay, and the certainty implied by the funding cap of £45bn for the overall
NPR scheme, which will guide development and future delivery. This will ensure
resources are earmarked for future Spending Reviews, giving a much greater level of
certainty, and there will be a process to monitor spend and delivery, and will help
apply the lessons of HS2, and avoid the project impacting funding for wider transport
investments, including future Transport for City Regions rounds.
3. In the light of our shared interest in delivering a scheme that is right for the
country, for the North and for Greater Manchester, we will work together to develop
a blended funding approach. The majority of funding will be from central
Government, but local contributions will be considered for specific or additional
scope; noting the need to agree appropriate mechanisms to manage and release
additional local funds which we will discuss before jointly agreeing local
contributions. Our starting assumption is that local contributions will largely be
towards stations, integration, onwards travel and surrounding development.

22 January 2026

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Additional local contributions may be made where cities wish to prioritise additional
scope, ensuring that central government funding constraints do not need to
artificially constrain local ambitions for NPR. We will seek to ensure NPR plans align
with further local development ambitions, noting links to local funding.
4. An underground solution at Manchester Piccadilly could be a catalyst and enabler
for major regeneration and economic growth for Greater Manchester and the wider
North by unlocking land for redevelopment and additional connectivity. We agree
that the option needs testing further in terms of value for money and delivering the
right pan northern growth and transport objectives and a joint process with full
transparency between all parties will analyse this further against alternative options.
We acknowledge that local funding would be required to contribute to the final
package, in addition to contributions towards Manchester Airport Station which
would include third party contributions.
5. Delivery Boards attended by Mayors and Ministers will be used to embed joint
working and support decision making and effective delivery, alongside Tom Riordan’s
work as Envoy to the Northern Growth Corridor. In the short term, this will support
the first 18 months of work to inform prioritisation and sequencing decisions at SR27.
Membership of these Boards will be jointly agreed post-announcement.

Rt Hon Heidi Alexander MP
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR
TRANSPORT

Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HOUSING,
COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT

Andy Burnham
MAYOR OF GREATER MANCHESTER

Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP
CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER