Keir Starmer said he is not reversing the decision to scrap the northern leg of the HS2, but instead is going to upgrade the Crewe -Manchester to enable it to run high-speed trains.
Under the guidance of rail minister Lord Hendy, who was also a close adviser to Boris Johnson, rail links between the northeast and northwest of the country will be upgraded with new stations at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.
Hendy was also a critic of the decision by Rishi Sunak to scrap the northern leg of HS2, with some reports suggesting that a reworked version of the project using high-speed trains might yet emerge.
In the draft bill today Labour said: “This improved rail connectivity would have a region-wide impact, directly serving the biggest cities in the north of England and improving journey times into the centre of major towns and cities where most jobs are located.”
Shares in FirdtGroup, which will lose all of its rail franchises under Labour's renationalisation plan eased 0.4p to 173.5p.