►► One of the new Siemens electric trains now running on newly electrified lines from Manchester to Glasgow, pictured at Carlisle. Surprisingly the new trains do not have wifi and operator First TransPennine says it has no plans to equip them with it ◀◀

Electric trains are now running between Manchester and Glasgow over a route that was diesel-operated until December 2013.

It is the first fruit of an ambitious national electrification programme in which the north of England is benefiting first.

New electric trains from Siemens are operating the TransPennine Express service via Newton-le-Willows.

The electrification teams are now pressing west from Newton-le-Willows towards Liverpool and also north to Wigan, with the aim of completing these routes this year.

After that, electrification will spread from Preston to Blackpool and from Manchester Victoria north towards Bolton and Chorley and east towards Stalybridge.

After years of denial and prevarication, the authorities have accepted the advantages of electrification which Railfuture has been advocating for years.

Now the Government has set up a task force to examine the prospects for more electrification in the north of England.

It will consider the following routes: Leeds-Harrogate-York, Selby-Hull, Sheffield-Leeds, Sheffield-Doncaster, to Middlesbrough, Sheffield-Manchester, Warrington-Chester and Crewe-Chester.

Campaigners also want the task force to include the Calder Valley route. Stephen Waring from the Halifax and District Rail Action Group is urging the task force to be more ambitious.

Information from railnews