An underground tram route across the city, ‘wristwatch’ payment for public transport in the north - and maybe even a tunnel to Sheffield.

By 2040, Greater Manchester’s travel network will have changed beyond recognition - and it’s a revolution starting now.

Within five years, Salford Central station will be transformed and work will have started on the Metrolink route to the Trafford Centre.

Inside a decade, Manchester Airport will have had a £1bn makeover with a new interchange - and we’ll have new smart motorways on the M60 and M62.

The new scheme will see an end to scrabbling for change

By 2033, HS2 will have arrived.

And by 2040, we could have underground tram tracks into the city centre - and an ‘Oyster card’ system across the north of England.

Piccadilly station will have undergone a revamp to integrate HS2.

There are also plans to bring the Wythenshawe Metrolink line west into Trafford, Wythenshawe Hospital, and link it with the HS2 station at the airport.

And you can help form that future.

Today, transport leaders have launched a 12-week consultation for the strategy up to 2040 - and there are lots of tunnels in it.

Simon Warburton, Transport Strategy Director, said: “HS2 is going to approach Manchester in a tunnel.

“We are doing work at the moment that’s looking at the rail work between northern cities. One of the things we will look at is whether they are better approaching in tunnels.

“On Metrolink, the Second City Crossing gives us the capacity we need by the 2020s, but if you look at the 2030s, with up to 250,000 new jobs in the city centre then two-car trams will not be enough. A third city crossing - we have to start challenging ourselves and say if we are a big bold city we probably do need to look underground.”

On Brexit, he added: “It’s nigh on impossible to speculate but more than anything it demonstrates the value of us setting out long-term strategies.”

On top of the £2bn over the last decade, TfGM has secured more than £500m to carry out the future work - and they hope for more in the devolution agreement.

The strategy was not to force people from their cars - but to encourage them to be more flexible and use public transport when they can.

On cycling, he said they were on track to have 10pc of commuters on bikes by 2025.

Tony Lloyd, Interim Mayor of Greater Manchester, said Brexit had made ‘the need for devolution even bigger’.

He said technology would ‘take us to places we don’t know’, with gadgets like ‘wristwatch’ payment for trams a real possibility.

He added: “It’s a detailed plan over a long time period - it’s not rigidly in steel. This is people’s opportunity to say what they want.”

Go online to TfGM.com/2040 and take part.

What do the next 25 years have in store?

BY 2020

  • Metrolink fleet expansion - eight new trams
  • Begin work on new Metrolink line to Trafford Centre, and possibly on to the AJ Bell Stadium and then Port Salford
  • Start designing HS2 interchange at Piccadilly
  • Improvements to Regent Road and Great Ancoats Street - Manchester and Salford inner ring roads. Improve the merge from Chester Road roundabout, reduce congestion.
  • A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road. 10km new two-lane dual carriageway from A6 near Hazel Grove to Manchester Airport via A555. Completed by 2017.
  • Improved A58 and A49 link roads in Wigan (A link road to complete a dual carriageway link between J25 of the M6 and improve access to the southern part of Wigan Town Centre, and Westwood Park employment area). To be completed by 2017
  • Improved bus network in Salford-Bolton area
  • New/improved interchanges in Ashton, Bolton, Stockport, Wigan and Oldham town centres
  • Boosted connectivity around Stockport town centre - new bus-rail interchange, pave the way for Metrolink extension by 2018. Boost cycle and pedestrian lanes.
  • Start looking at how to improve access to Greater Manchester from the south
  • A revamped Salford Central station with three new platforms by 2018.
  • Improved coach and taxi facilities.

BY 2025

  • A new Metrolink line to the Trafford Centre
  • Better public transport links between Manchester Airport and HS2
  • Better rail services to Manchester Airport from the south
  • Manchester Airport T2 development with a new interchange
  • A reduction in motorway congestion around the airport and the north-western M60 - studies underway.
  • A ship canal wharf, rail and road inks at Port Salford
  • Electrification of Greater Manchester rail network - including Trans-Pennine trains. More rolling stock - and not just cast-offs from the south.
  • Measures to curb congestion in the Longdendale area, including the Mottram Moor link road - Improved links to the M6, including J25 improvements
  • Completion of Smart motorway schemes on M60, M62, M56 and M6
  • Review of bus routing and interchanges to prepare for HS2
  • Better weekend and night time bus and tram services
  • Review of bus routing and interchanges in the city centre

BY 2033

  • Early delivery of HS2 to Manchester city centre, with strong onward links across Greater Manchester

BY 2040

  • Possible underground tram tunnels to be built as a ‘third city crossing’.
  • Tram-trains on lines like Stockport-Manchester Airport and Wigan and ‘orbital links’ around Greater Manchester serving key centres and Manchester Airport
  • Better links between town centres and employment sites - combination of bus and trams/trains.
  • £200m Revamp of Piccadilly station with a view to integrate HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail, local rail and Metrolink
  • Get more trains into regional train stations
  • HS2 and rail services direct to Manchester Airports
  • Major refurbishments to Stockport and Wigan train stations.
  • A full ‘Oyster’ system for the whole of the north (wristwatch payment?)
  • Better Trans-pennine road links - The DfT and Transport for the North are looking at tunnelling a new route to Sheffield.
  • Faster rail journeys to Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield
Manchester Airport's Terminal 2

Ongoing

  • Increase cashless payment, develop ‘Oyster’
  • Develop car clubs and cycle hire - including electric schemes
  • Cut pollution by getting more people on bikes, walking - electric cars/buses
  • Reduction in Manchester Airport and Port Salford workers using cars.
  • Better cycling and pedestrian paths across the city centre, Greater Manchester
  • Better roads around Greater Manchester
  • Measures to reduce the number of large goods vehicles at peak times
  • Get traffic flowing on key roads and ease bottlenecks
  • Faster, more reliable train journeys with more seats.
  • Better cycle and pedestrian paths
  • Improve road safety at accident black spots
  • Better facilities at train stations
  • Road safety/speed reduction measures to make roads safer
  • Tackle noise pollution in ‘hotspots’.