The local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for Norfolk & Suffolk has joined forces with local MPs to ask the Department for Transport (DfT) to reconsider its plan to end the direct rail service between Norwich and Liverpool Lime Street. The proposal features in the DfT consultation on the Northern and TransPennine Express franchises, which suggests that the Nottingham to Liverpool section of the service should transfer from East Midlands Trains to the new TransPennine Express franchise, ending the through service from Norwich and Peterborough to Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool, and requiring passengers to change trains at Nottingham. The MD of the New Anglia LEP, Chris Starkie, said:'The Government has made a commitment to increase investment in east to west high speed lines between northern cities. These plans fly contrary to that and will result in East Anglia losing a vital direct link to the North and North West. Our growing population and economy demands infrastructure that is fit for purpose, including improved connections by rail, road, air and sea. Now is the time we should be seeing further enhancement and investment to our rail links. We call on the Transport Secretary to re-think this regressive proposal.'
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