The Chancellor is today expected to announce £150m in new cash to start rolling out an ‘Oyster card for the north’.

It is understood George Osborne will promise to make smart ticketing across trains, buses and trams a reality for the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ in this afternoon’s autumn spending review.

That would mean a passenger could travel from their home in Liverpool by bus, catch a train to Manchester and then a tram to the Old Trafford - all on one mobile phone ticket.

It is unclear how long such a roll-out will take, but one senior transport figure said northern authorities were aiming to get it up and running ‘as quickly as possible’, while suggesting considerable progress should be made in the next year.

The latest smart-ticketing cash will go to Transport for the North, the new body that brings together northern bodies to push for and oversee government transport investment.

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TfN says smart ticketing will ’make it simple and easy to travel around and between city regions’, alongside passenger information that will be ‘instantly available’ on smartphones.

However, there remain stumbling blocks, not least the need for northern areas to get the same degree of regulatory control over bus services that is currently afforded to London.

Legislation is currently going through parliament to allow that move in many areas.

Mr Osborne is expected to again reiterate his commitment to handing Greater Manchester those bus powers in the Autumn Statement - although the actual bill is not yet published and has not been passed.

Meanwhile Greater Manchester’s existing smart ticketing roll-out has already hit problems when it had to ditch one of its key contracters, ATOS, this summer due to delays.

Senior insiders said revised plans for the system are being drawn up in tandem with the pan-northern version, even if the latter is still some years away.

The latest Treasury investment comes on top of the £13bn the government will spend on Northern transport.

It forms part of a long term strategy to invest in major rail projects like Trans-Pennine electrification and the upgrading of the northern road network, including building a tunnel through the Pennines.