"It is extremely encouraging to see that Central Railway is very much on the agenda."

"We look forward to working with the SRA to fine-tune our proposals and to turning Central Railway's plans into reality. We are already working closely with regional authorities to deliver jobs and redevelopment as well as a reduction in lorries on roads and environmental pollution."

• Central Railway is proposing to design, build and operate a new lorries-on-trains rail link connecting the North West to northern France. The line will run from Liverpool, via Manchester, Sheffield, the Midlands and London, through the Channel Tunnel to the Lille area in Northern France. Most of the route will be existing or disused railways. A small part of the route will be new railway running alongside the M25 in Surrey to bypass overloaded existing lines.


• The railway will create a unique link into Europe as the only British railway able to carry lorries, and standard European freight trains (as well as any UK passenger or freight train). The project cost is estimated at approximately £5.5 billion and Central Railway is projected to produce a commercial rate of return enabling it to be built with private money.