Proposed new train line would cut through 40 miles of Staffordshire countryside

Other Regional Press - Staffordshire will be "thrown under a train" by plans to create a new rail link between two regions, county councillors have said. The ambitious proposals for the Midlands-North West Rail Link have come forward in a private sector consortium report commissioned by the West Midlands and Greater Manchester Mayors, less than a year after controversial plans for the HS2 line between Handsacre and Crewe were scrapped by the previous Conservative Government.