Wednesday 19 Mar 2025
Engineering work to affect journeys through Yorkshire this weekend
- Region & Route:
- Eastern
Passengers are being urged to check before travelling this weekend as engineering work for the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) affects various Yorkshire routes.
Over the weekend of 22 and 23 March, a series of upgrade works will be carried out near Colton Junction, with changes to train services between Leeds and York, as well as Doncaster to York.
TRU engineers will be upgrading the overhead line equipment between Leeds and York, enabling electric trains to run through the area in the future, delivering cleaner, greener journeys.
Separate from the TRU work and to make the most of the railway closure, Network Rail teams will also be carrying out drainage work near York, resulting in more reliable journeys for years to come.
Passengers are advised to check before they travel at nationalrail.co.uk as train operators will be running to different timetables and journeys will take longer than usual, with diversionary routes and rail replacement buses in operation.
Adam Sellers, Senior Sponsor for TRU, said:
“This work is vital in our delivery of faster, greener services that run on a cleaner, more reliable railway with greater capacity.
“I’d urge anyone travelling by train this weekend to plan their journey ahead of time and we thank customers for their patience as we approach a crucial stage of upgrades in the area.”
Following the introduction of electrified services between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge last year, these upgrades will take TRU closer to delivering faster, greener trains between Church Fenton and York, with electrified passenger services expected in 2025.
Notes to Editors
Changes to train services
Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 March:
Buses will replace trains between York and Leeds/Selby/Doncaster/Moorthorpe
Affected operators: CrossCountry, Grand Central, LNER, Lumo, Northern, TransPennine Express
CrossCountry:
No trains will run between Leeds and York. You can use TransPennine Express replacement buses between Leeds and York.
Grand Central:
A reduced and limited service will run between Sunderland and York only.
LNER:
No trains will run between Doncaster/Leeds and York.
Replacement buses will run between Doncaster and York. For travel between Leeds and York, you should use alternative services.
Lumo:
A reduced and amended train service will run between Newcastle and Edinburgh only.
Northern:
Buses will replace trains between:
- York and Selby
- York and Moorthorpe
- York and Leeds
- Leeds and Selby
TransPennine Express:
Replacement buses will run between Leeds and York.
An amended train service will run between various routes.
For the full travel information, please visit: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/engineering-works/york-selby-moorthorpe-20250322/
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
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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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