New trains and extra services have been promised for the north west in an annual rail investment report.

Britain’s rail companies have published a joint investment report for 2020, with the industry committing to delivering more than 1,000 extra services a week for passengers and introducing 1,000 new carriages.

In total, an estimated £20 billion will be invested in running and upgrading the railway in 2020.

For the north of England, this means new and upgraded trains will be delivered for passengers travelling with TransPennine Express, Merseyrail, LNER, Northern, Hull Trains and Grand Central.

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, said: "People want a better railway and we are investing in a long-term plan to make that happen.

"Next year, our passengers and the communities that rely on rail can expect more trains to more places and new carriages with more seats and better Wi-Fi.

"Those improvements will drive economic growth increase productivity and help set Britain up for success in the long term."

Since 2017 Northern and TransPennine Express have added an extra 2,000 services a week.

The investment report builds on the industry’s long-term plan to improve passenger and freight services to benefit customers, communities and the economy.

Significant progress has been made since this plan was published two years ago with more than 2,500 brand new carriages already introduced and over 4,000 extra services running each week, improving journeys and better connecting communities across the country.

Further commitments made by operators since then mean that by the mid-2020s, over 11,300 extra trains a week will have been added to timetables, an overall increase of almost 10 per cent.

A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group added: "This is alongside 8,000 new train carriages over the same period, an increase of 1,000 on previous plans and equivalent to replacing over half of the nation’s trains new for old.

"Passengers are also benefitting from hundreds of upgraded train carriages which are being refurbished like new."

With 4.8million journeys being made every day and with three trains pulling away from a station every second, increasing the number of trains and services on an already congested network is challenging.

Rail companies are working together to ensure new services are introduced smoothly and that the benefits of the investment are felt across the country.