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Monday 3 Feb 2025

Customers encouraged to check before they travel ahead of major track upgrades in March

Region & Route:

Eastern

TRU Engineers will carry out vital improvements to the railway between Ravensthorpe and Leeds across three weeks in March, with customers urged to plan their journeys ahead of time.

Services will be impacted from Monday 3 March to Friday 21 March – excluding weekends – with diversionary routes and rail replacement buses in operation to keep passengers on the move.

The work forms part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, a multi-billion-pound programme that will better connect towns and cities across the North of England. It’s the first series of major railway work for TRU in this, the railway’s bicentenary year. Railway200 is being celebrated throughout 2025 and TRU is building one that future generations can be proud of.

The upgrades will see over 1.9km of new track installed and over 860m of drainage renewed, whilst overhead line equipment (OLE) will be installed between Morley and Leeds.

Engineers will also remove Batley signal box, which has been non-operational since June 2023.

This is the next phase of upgrades in this part of West Yorkshire, following work completed back in November which saw the installation of 101 electrification masts, 107 OLE mast foundations, over 3km of new track, and the removal of 900m of redundant cable.

 

Jonathan Hepton, Project Sponsor for TRU, said:                                          

“This series of weekday works affecting services between Dewsbury and Leeds will enable vital upgrades to this stretch of railway.  Further installation of electrification equipment and new track takes us one step closer to an upgraded, electrified Transpennine route.

“I’d encourage customers to check before they travel, with weekday services affected throughout March.”

 

Chris Nutton, Major Projects and TRU Director at TransPennine Express, said:

“It’s great to see the progress that’s being made on this part of the Transpennine main line, with customers being able to see overhead line equipment starting to go up between Morley and Leeds, as well as other upgrades installed along the route that will improve the railway for years to come.

“During these vital improvement works, TransPennine Express won’t be able to run trains on the line between Ravensthorpe and Leeds. To keep customers on trains as much as possible, we will divert trains between Huddersfield and Leeds via Wakefield Kirkgate, slightly increasing journey times. Rail replacement services will connect Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Leeds, and all local stations in between.

“We advise customers to check before they travel. For the people who plan to travel across the Pennines, we’ll have extra staff on hand at stations to help people get where they need to go.”

 

During this period, trains will not call at Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury, Batley, Morley and Cottingley. Passengers will be kept on the move between Huddersfield and Leeds via a diversionary route, increasing journey times.