The railway would run on a combination of new and existing bridges and viaducts to connect Manchester’s Victoria, Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations. 

It would require the construction of new crossings of the the Manchester inner ring road and River Irwell. Two potential bridge options have been set out for consultation - a bow string railway arch and an alternative flat bridge. Public feedback will be passed onto to the design team and used to inform the plans.

The new Ordsall Chord project is the first part of the Northern Hub programme, which is designed to help ease a rail bottleneck. The scheme will enable the delivery of faster, more frequent services.

If approved, work will start in late 2014 and is expected to be completed in late 2015.