Desperately-needed upgrades to the M62 are to be urgently brought forward by George Osborne in tomorrow’s Budget - in a bid to finally end the daily misery faced by northern commuters.

The Chancellor will commit millions to fast-tracking extra capacity on the motorway as well as to slashing train journeys between Manchester and Leeds down to 30 minutes.

He will also pledge cash towards pushing ahead with plans for a new trans-Pennine tunnel.

The £300m announcement is a direct response to calls for ‘immediate and significant investment’ in northern rail links from the new National Infrastructure Commission, in a report released separately today.

It also calls for upgrades to the M56 around Manchester Airport, to the Simister Island interchange and for a major overhaul of Piccadilly Station.

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While not all of those suggestions have immediately received public backing from the Treasury, those focusing on Manchester to Leeds transport links have been accepted by the Chancellor ahead of tomorrow’s Budget.

Mr Osborne said the announcements form part of ‘Britain’s largest programme of rail investment since the Victorian age’.

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Government funding of £161m will pay for major upgrades to the M62 on both sides of Manchester - at junctions 10 to 12 near Warrington and junctions 20 to 25 between Rochdale and Brighouse - to be brought forward by the Highways Agency.

Although the Treasury has not given timescales, the National Infrastructure Commission says the improvements around junction 10 must be accelerated by two years, to begin in 2017.

It also says upgrades along the Rochdale to Brighouse stretch - currently due to be completed in 2022 - need to be ‘significantly fast-tracked’.

M62 capacity increase 30pc National Infrastructure Commission Report

Between them the moves could cut journey times by a fifth, it says, increasing capacity on the M62 by 30pc.

Meanwhile the Budget will also see £60m committed to the first phase of the so-called HS3 high-speed train masterplan, starting between Manchester and Leeds.

Plans were already underway to bring down journey times from 49 minutes to 40 by 2022, but the latest move would aim to go further, cutting them to half an hour.

It is unclear when that would be completed, however.

Manchester-Leeds rail journey time 49 minutes now 40 by 2022 30 longer-term National Infrastructure Commission Report

Mr Osborne has also accepted the commission’s call to push ahead with plans for a tunnel under the Pennines, committing a further £75m towards investigating the idea, as well as the congestion facing the north western part of the M60.

However there are a range of other demands contained within the commission’s report that have not so far received a public commitment from the Treasury.

The independent body was set up by Mr Osborne last September to investigate the biggest problems facing northern transport links and has come back with a string of recommendations.

Projected increase in train travel between northern cities 110pc by 2043 National Infrastructure Commission Report

As well as improving Manchester to Leeds links, they also include a massive overhaul of Piccadilly Station - which its chair Lord Andrew Adonis says should be transformed into a new gateway station ‘akin to London’s King’s Cross’.

It could include new platforms under the station so more trains can go to and from the station, and moving the Metrolink stop to a better location.

No timeframe is placed on that move, but Lord Adonis says northern transport upgrades must not ‘wait until the 2030s’ and urges both the public and private sector to put together the necessary funding.

Percentage of passengers who have to stand on Manchester rush-hour train services 20.3 National Infrastructure Commission Report

He also says that without major improvements, huge parts of the north’s ageing road network will be facing ‘severe congestion’ by 2040.

Funding is needed to plan for M56 improvements near to Manchester airport in order to east congestion, according to his report, as well as at the Simister Island interchange.

And he says journey times should also be cut on the Manchester to Sheffield line by using Pendolino trains taken from the West Coast Mainline once HS2 is part-built - although such a move is likely to be a decade away, he admits.

Lord Adonis said the ‘passion for a Northern Powerhouse is palpable’, adding: “It is time for action.”

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