Monday 21 Oct 2024
Leeds Light Night travel advice during Transpennine Route Upgrade work
- Region & Route:
- Eastern
TRU would like to remind customers of potential delays and congestion for rail replacement buses on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 October, as Leeds Light Night takes place.
The rail replacement buses, which are in operation due to the essential works that TRU are carrying out across the railway between Dewsbury and Leeds, may face some disruption due to road closures put in place for Leeds Light Night.
Due to the predicted congestion, additional rail replacement buses are on standby but anyone attending the event should be aware of potential delays to these services.
Jonathan Hepton, Sponsor on the Transpennine Route Upgrade, said:
“The ongoing work between Dewsbury and Leeds will impact weekday services across parts of West Yorkshire, so we’d like to remind customers to plan their journey ahead of time during this period, particularly ahead of Leeds Light Night.
“The TRU team will be working around the clock during this time as we get one step closer to delivering more frequent, faster trains running on a more reliable railway.”
Chris Nutton, Major Projects & TRU Director at TransPennine Express, said:
“The work taking place during these weeks is essential to upgrading the railway in the North. The work between Morley and Leeds will pave the way for the future electrification, while the new track and drainage renewal works will improve the reliability for years to come.
“As a result of this work, TransPennine Express won’t be able to run trains on the line through Dewsbury and Morley. To keep as many people on trains as possible, we will divert trains between Huddersfield and Leeds via Wakefield Kirkgate, 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, especially on Leeds Light Night, when some rail replacement services might be delayed due to road closures and traffic congestion in Leeds. We’ll have extra staff on hand during this event to help people get from A to B.”
Notes to Editors
TRU will bring passengers:
• More trains to choose from and more seats. Our improvements will enable more
trains to run between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York with up to six fast
services every hour between Leeds and Manchester and up to two stopping
services for local connectivity.
• Faster journeys so you can travel to your favourite towns and cities more quickly.
Our fastest journey times are forecast to be 63-66 minutes between Manchester
and York and 41-42 minutes between Manchester and Leeds.
• More reliable journeys with trains that run on-time
• Better stations across the Transpennine route, bringing passengers a better travel
experience through improved, more accessible stations
• Greener travel, reducing our carbon footprint and improving air quality. Our plans
aim to save up to 87,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year – supporting the
government’s Net Zero objectives. We’re also developing a proposal to move more
goods by rail (up to 15 more freight trains each day.)
• Together, these freight trains are expected to remove over 1,000 lorries off the road each day.
TRU will bring local communities:
• Jobs for local people. Our workforce will be local, with 80% employment from
within a 40-mile radius of the route, and 60% employment from within a 25-mile
radius. With a current workforce of around 2000 people, we estimate that could
double over the course of the programme. We’ll employ an apprentice for every
£4million spent.
• Improved natural environments near the railway through 10% biodiversity net
gain across the route. This will create or enhance habitats for wildlife.
The multi-billion-pound Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) will bring this line into the
21st century with 70-miles of fully electric, digital railway. Our plans include:
• Electrifying the whole route between Manchester and York via Huddersfield and
Leeds
• Installing a new digital signalling system along the Transpennine route
• Doubling the number of tracks from two to four between Huddersfield and
Westtown in Dewsbury.
• Station improvements along the route to enhance customer experience, comfort
and accessibility
• Improving the railway on diversionary routes to allow more trains to run, to help
keep passengers and freight moving while the core Transpennine route is closed to
deliver essential upgrades. This will provide capacity and reliability improvements
for future too.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Ewan Bayliss
Communications Executive
Network Rail
ewan.bayliss@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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