A £160 million improvement will electrify the railway between Liverpool and Manchester, allowing for faster travel.

The new changes will allow for inter-city travel on the Chat Moss line in 30 minutes, the Liverpool Daily Post reports. It currently takes 45 minutes on a fast service and over an hour for the slower service, which features more station stops. Completion is planned for the end of next year.

Developing the route is part of the Northern Hub project, which is being carried out by Network Rail with funding from the Department for Transport.

An additional train will also be added, replacing the hourly service with two every hour. Electric trains will be used, as they can accelerate faster than the older, non-electric models. These will run from Liverpool to Manchester, via Newton le Willows, as well Liverpool to Wigan.

The services will be from TransPennine, which will utilise diesel engines until electrification is finished on the route.

Balfour Beatty is contracted and currently working on the route.