The government has finally moved to drag the Northern Powerhouse Rail mega-scheme out of limbo, committing fresh cash and promising tighter cost control after years of drift and delay.

Ministers will today pledge to keep the Northern east–west rail programme within a hard £45bn funding envelope, in a bid to avoid the spiralling overruns that derailed HS2 and spooked the Treasury.

To get the stalled project moving, the Treasury will now release an initial £1.1bn to kickstart detailed planning, design and development work, laying the groundwork for construction to begin in the 2030s.

Work is expected to start after the completion of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, which ministers insist remains on time and on budget.

Alongside NPR, ministers have also signalled long-term intent to deliver a new Birmingham–Manchester rail line once the scheme is complete.

The government stressed this would not be a reinstatement of HS2 and would be shaped by lessons learned from its failures. Land set aside for HS2 will now remain in Government ownership.

Northern Powerhouse Rail will begin by targeting long-standing bottlenecks between Sheffield and Leeds, Leeds and York, and Leeds and Bradford. In the North East, development work on the Leamside Line will be progressed alongside the core programme.

Later phases will deliver a new Liverpool–Manchester route via Manchester Airport and Warrington, followed by upgraded trans-Pennine connections linking Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York. Services are planned to run onward to Newcastle via Darlington and Durham, as well as to Hull and Chester to support North Wales connections.

Ministers say the programme will unlock skilled jobs across planning, design and construction, backed by a £570m package to expand training facilities at colleges to help tackle regional skills shortages.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “For too long, the North has been held back by underinvestment and years of dither and delay – but that ends now.

“Northern Powerhouse Rail will deliver faster, more frequent services across the great cities of the North, unlocking jobs, homes and opportunities and creating a world-class growth corridor that people of the region need and deserve.”

Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram said the decision marked a turning point after years of false starts, calling it “the start of a new era” with government finally backing the scheme in full.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said the commitment opened the door to an underground city-centre station and a transformed Manchester Piccadilly acting as “the Kings Cross of the North”.

West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin said the funding would revive long-stalled plans for Bradford station, capacity upgrades in and out of Leeds and network electrification, improving reliability and journey times across Yorkshire.