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Wednesday 19 Jul 2017

Passengers advised to plan ahead of West Yorkshire rail investment

Region & Route:

| Eastern

A major investment to deliver a more reliable railway in West Yorkshire will begin on 5 August 2017 as the Great North Rail Project continues.

The investment will see the old signalling technology ‘recontrolled’ from local lineside signal boxes to the state-of-the-art Rail Operating Centre in York, resulting in a more reliable, modern and cost-effective railway with the benefits felt right across the rail network in the north.

The nature of the work means on Saturday 5 August and Sunday 6 August 2017 no trains will operate in or out of Huddersfield and Dewsbury stations

During this time, TransPennine Express (TPE) and Northern will operate up to 25 buses per hour to keep passengers moving between Leeds, Manchester, Manchester Airport, Halifax, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Stalybridge and Bradford. This means customers will still be able to get to the Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival taking place from 3 to 6 August.

The work will also mean changes to TPE services from Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Scarborough, Hull, Manchester, Sheffield, Doncaster and Cleethorpes and customers are urged to check before they travel.

Passengers are advised to plan their journeys in advance over the weekend of August 5 and 6 by checking with their train operator via nationalrail.co.uk

Rob McIntosh, managing director for the London North Eastern and East Midlands route, said: “The signalling system in this part of West Yorkshire is approaching the end of its operational life and we are taking this opportunity to replace it with the latest signal technology which will increase reliability, thereby reducing delays, while cutting the cost of running the railway for the taxpayer.

“There is never a good time to disrupt passengers but this work has been carefully planned over several years to maximise every minute available to us during this weekend. I thank passengers for their patience and assure them that the result of the disruption will be a more reliable, efficient, modern network fit to meet the needs of the economies and communities our railway serves.”

Kathryn O’Brien, Customer Experience Director for TransPennine Express said: “Due to the work taking place over the 5 and 6 August, we will unfortunately be unable to operate any trains between Manchester and Leeds. Customers travelling between the two cities should use Northern services on the Manchester Victoria to Leeds route. Replacement buses will also be running.

“There will also be changes to our services from Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Scarborough, Hull, Manchester, Sheffield, Doncaster and Cleethorpes.

“No trains will be operating to or from Huddersfield or Dewsbury railway stations but the local team will still be on hand to provide help and assistance to customers, including those heading to the popular Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival.

“Customers are urged to allow extra time and check before they travel at: tpexpress.co.uk/changes or at nationalrail.co.uk.”

Paul Barnfield, regional director for Northern, said: “This is vital engineering work which will help pave the way for the modernisation of services across the Pennines.

“We have worked closely with colleagues at Network Rail and TransPennine Express to ensure our customers can keep on the move during the engineering works and can get to and from Huddersfield to enjoy the popular food festival.”

Paul added: “We will be running trains between Manchester Victoria and Leeds during the works, but services which would normally call at Huddersfield will be diverted via Halifax and Bradford.

“We will also run rail replacement bus services from Huddersfield to Penistone, Leeds (via Dewsbury), Wakefield Westage (Saturday only) and Halifax (via Brighouse).

“Working in partnership, we are doing everything we can to keep people on the move, but we advise customers to plan carefully and to check before they travel.”

Information on replacement buses times can be found at: tpexpress.co.uk/changes, northernrailway.co.uk or at nationalrail.co.uk. Replacement buses at Huddersfield railway station will run from Lord Street which is a short five minute walk from Huddersfield station and will be clearly signposted with staff on hand to direct customers.

The project over the weekend of August 5-6 is the first of three stages which will see the signalling moved into the ROC in 2018. The following two stages, which will also see Huddersfield station closed, will be over the weekends of October 28/29 and January 20/21.