Friday 1 Mar 2024
Passengers reminded to plan ahead as major weekend upgrade works commence between Huddersfield and Leeds
- Region & Route:
- Eastern
The Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) is reminding passengers travelling along the railway line between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds, and York to check before they travel as they start upgrade work over multiple weekends throughout March and April.
Over these two months, engineers working on the multi-billion-pound project will upgrade tracks in Mirfield and Deighton, complete mining mitigation work around Huddersfield station and undertake work to Huddersfield viaduct.
This essential work will enable trains to achieve higher speeds and enhance the overall reliability of services passing through the area in the future, as the number of railway tracks increases from two to four.
While the railway line is temporarily closed to facilitate these upgrades, passengers will continue their journeys via diversionary routes and rail replacement buses.
Paul Sumner, Senior Sponsor on Transpennine Route Upgrade said: “This weekend, engineers will be working around the clock to take us one step closer to cleaner, faster and more reliable journeys through Huddersfield.
“The upgrades include new track being installed, work to Huddersfield viaduct and mining mitigations. These upgrades are a crucial component of our broader programme of work, allowing Huddersfield Station to be completely remodelled, including additional longer platforms, and facilitating trains to travel faster through the area”.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their patience and understanding while the work takes place and remind customers, including those travelling to the football or other events, to check www.nationalrailenquiries.co.uk or with their respective train operator.”
Chris Nutton, Major Projects Director for TransPennine Express, said: “These improvement works are key to the overall modernisation of the railway that will be taking place as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, which will help deliver a faster and more sustainable service for our customers who travel between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
“We’d like to thank our customers in advance for their patience while this work takes place. To keep customers on the move, there will be some changes to our services, including diversions on some routes and rail replacement buses on others, and we advise customers to check carefully before travelling. We’ll have extra staff on hand at stations to help customers who are travelling on days affected by this work.”
The track upgrades take us one step closer to our vision of creating a cleaner, greener, and more reliable railway system that will bring improved connectivity and travel experiences to passengers traveling across the Pennines.
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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