Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has claimed the North risks having train services that are "second-best for 200 years".
The mayor added that the Government's Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) will fail to "unlock the full economic transformation" of the region.
The IRP, published in November 2021, includes the scrapping of HS2's eastern leg between the East Midlands and Leeds, and a failure to use new lines for the full Northern Powerhouse Rail project boosting east-west connections across the North.