Thursday 15 Feb 2024
Passengers reminded of major railway upgrades between Huddersfield and Leeds from next week
- Region & Route:
- Eastern
The Transpennine Route Upgrade are encouraging passengers to check before they travel as engineers complete five days of work across the Transpennine Route.
Upgrades in the Morley area will include track drainage and cabling work, whilst engineers in Dewsbury will replace and enhance telecommunications networks, allowing for future signalling improvements.
Additionally, upgrades will take place in Huddersfield over this weekend (17/18 February) and next (24/25 February).
In order for this essential work to be carried out whist also keeping customers on the move, some trains will be diverted via different routes while others will be replaced by buses - passengers can check www.nationalrailenquiries.co.uk to plan their journey ahead of time.
Jonathan Hepton, Sponsor on the Transpennine Route Upgrade, said: “The works being carried out across the Morley, Batley and Dewsbury areas are an important step in the progress being made by the Transpennine Route Upgrade team.
"We’d like to extend our thanks to passengers for their understanding and would like to encourage them to plan ahead and check before they travel.”
The upgrades being carried out are part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU), a multi-billion-pound programme of railway upgrades that will enable faster, more reliable, greener services for customers travelling across the Pennines.
Chris Nutton, Major Projects Director at TransPennine Express, said: “The work around Morley and Dewsbury is essential for the delivery of more reliable services for our customers, as well as the delivery of the upgraded Morley station.
“We will be running an amended timetable on our North route while these improvement works are being carried out, diverting trains between Huddersfield and Leeds. Rail replacement buses will also be in place to keep customers on the move for more local journeys. We'd like to advise customers to check before they travel.”
These upgrades bring us one step closer to a better railway serving the new Morley station and at other locations in the Dewsbury and Batley area, with wider benefits across the entire Transpennine Route to create a cleaner, greener, and more reliable railway that will bring improved connectivity and travel experiences to passengers travelling between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
Notes to Editors
Changes to Services during Mon 19 Feb to Friday 23 Feb:
TransPennine Express:
• Services between Huddersfield – Leeds will be diverted and will not run through Dewsbury.
• Rail replacement bus services will replace services between Huddersfield – Dewsbury – Leeds.
• Services from Hull will start/terminate at Leeds.
• Services from Saltburn to Manchester Airport will start/terminate at Manchester Victoria.
• Rail replacement buses will operate between Huddersfield – Manchester Airport via Stockport
Northern:
• Services between Leeds – Wigan via Brighouse
will be diverted and will not run through Dewsbury.
• Rail replacement bus services will run between
Halifax – Brighouse – Dewsbury – Leeds
TRU will bring better journeys for 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 station.
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), taking lorries off the road. 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.
Improved natural environments near the railway through 10% biodiversity net gain across the route. This will create or enhance habitats for wildlife.
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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