Faster trains and more services have been promised through a £2 billion investment if Northern Spirit keeps its Transpennine franchise.

The train operator, through its management company, Arriva, is one of four bidders shortlisted to operate the service for the next 20 years.

Arriva is committed to reducing the journey time from York to Manchester Airport to 92 minutes - a 16 per cent reduction on its current time of 1 hour 42 minutes.

Services to and from both Liverpool and Newcastle via York will also be 20 per cent quicker.

The investment in both new trains and service levels would also cater for a sixfold increase in the number of journeys operated by Northern Spirit and convert the service into a high speed InterCity style operation.

A £1.2 billion investment in rolling stock could see more than 100 faster, quieter, new trains introduced, reaching speeds of more than 100mph.

The franchisee, to be announced next year, will have up to 20 years to operate trains linking Liverpool and Manchester with Leeds, York, Newcastle and Sheffield as well as other key towns and cities in the North West and North East.

Meanwhile Northern Spirit is promising a "turn up and go" service over Christmas on the majority of its services.

"We are currently running 99 per cent of our services and although we expect to be busy over the Christmas period, customers will be able to get trains without booking," said a spokesman.

dan.rutstein@ycp.co.uk