LIVE: We try the commute from Manchester to Liverpool by train after huge vision unveiled

Manchester and Liverpool are less than 40 miles apart, but when travelling by train, the two cities often feels much further away.

This week, the Manchester Evening News has joined forces with the Liverpool ECHO in calling for a new railway line to be built. It comes as the region's mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram present the government with their plans for the brand new route.

The Greater Manchester mayor says 'disruption on a daily basis' means the current railway infrastructure is holding both cities back.

This morning (May 15), reporters from M.E.N. and the ECHO will be travelling to each others' patches by train to see it for themselves.

Our reporter Greta Simpson travel from Manchester to Liverpool, while the ECHO's Dan Haygarth will do the opposite journey.

Currently, trains from Manchester Piccadilly to Liverpool Lime Street take nearly an hour on average with the fastest services arriving within 45 minutes. Meanwhile, services from Manchester Victoria take an average of 48 minutes - but they can take as little as 32.

Under the new plans, express trains would run every 10 minutes with journeys from Manchester Piccadilly to Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington and both cities' airports slashed to just over half an hour. The proposal also includes an underground station at Piccadilly.

Follow below for live updates from our reporters.

Greta's trains is actually one minute ahead of schedule. Maybe we don't need a new line after all! (For the avoidance of doubt, this is a joke. We definitely need better trains)

I’m not doing a very good job of showing how bad this service is supposed to be - just like that we’re in sunny Warrington, a minute AHEAD of schedule @MENnewsdesk pic.twitter.com/rf8lPHNFM5

This is