Chancellor Rachel Reeves promises to deliver Transpennine upgrade on trains

The Chancellor has promised to deliver the Transpennine upgrade on trains between York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester in her inaugural budget.

Rachel Reeves, the MP for Leeds West and Pudsey, said the upgrades, which will bring fully electric regional services, is guaranteed under the new Labour government.

Ms Reeves stated that there would be electrification from Church Fenton to York by 2026 "to help grow our economy across the North of England".

She added the funding would ensure fully electric local and regional services between Manchester and Stalybridge by the end of this year, to "help grow our economy across the North of England, with faster and more reliable services".

The multi-billion pound programme of railway improvements would make journeys faster, cleaner and greener for millions of people across the north of England. It would serve 23 stations, with journey times expected to be around an hour between Manchester and York, and around 40 minutes between Manchester and Leeds.

The upgrade to the Transpennine route is already underway but had stalled for years due to successive government attempts to control costs.

Former chancellor George Osborne had previously promised to electrify the 70-mile line in 2011, with work supposed to start in 2014. Four years later, the project was paused, with Network Rail blamed for rocketing costs.

However, there was no mention of electrification of routes linking Hull to Leeds and Sheffield, which had been previously pledged by the Conservatives to bring Hull into the Northern Powerhouse Rail network.

Analysis by ITV Calendar's Political Correspondent, Charanpreet Khaira:

Like the rest of Westminster, I was hanging on to the Chancellor’s every word today - and have spent the hours since combing through the smallprint.

The commitments for our region will be welcome, although they aren’t exactly groundbreaking.

For such a straight talking Chancellor, there were a couple of surprises - like Reeves’ decision not to increase fuel duty or extend the freeze on income tax thresholds.

But there are two numbers that everyone here in Westminster is talking about today.

The first is £40 billion - a colossal increase in taxes.

On the flipside though, the other big number is £22.6 billion - the extra cash that’s going to be injected into the day-to-day health budget.

Those two figures set out the enormous scope of this budget - with massive tax hikes offset by huge increases in spending.

It’s the first time this Government has made major policy decisions - a major change to how our economy works that will come to define this Government for better or worse.

Today's budget has already earned its place in the history books as the first ever delivered by a woman - Yorkshire's own Rachel Reeves.

What we don't yet know is how history will judge the decisions she's made today.

Other pledges announced by the Chancellor were:

• From the start of 2026/27, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and South Yorkshire Combined Authority (SYCA) will both benefit from the introduction of a single, flexible funding pot through their integrated settlements

• Yorkshire and the Humber allocated £1.3 billion to support transport investment in England’s city regions in 2025/26, with SYCA and WYCA both receiving City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS1). This is £200 million more across the country than in 2024/25 and these settlements will unlock key growth-enhancing projects like West Yorkshire Mass Transit and renewal of the Sheffield Supertram.

• The Budget also confirms £640 million for local Bus Service Improvement Plans across England, to support locally-led initiatives to improve local bus services.

In response, the South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, said: "As we look to improve our buses here in South Yorkshire, increased funding for bus services is vital to safeguard the services that so many of our communities rely on.

"We look forward to further engagement with Ministers as we work to secure a fair deal for South Yorkshire after our region lost out so significantly under the previous Government. The money committed to renew South Yorkshire’s Supertram network is very welcome news."

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