Saturday 20 Jul 2024
TRU extends thanks to passengers following four weeks of upgrades
- Region & Route:
- Eastern
Rail passengers experiencing longer journey times between Huddersfield and Leeds over recent weeks are being thanked for their patience by the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU).
From Monday 24 June to Friday 19 July, the TRU team delivered upgrades to the railway between Huddersfield and Leeds.
The work is part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, a multi-billion-pound programme that will bring customers faster, greener and more reliable trains between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
TRU engineers worked around the clock to complete the work, which included the renewal of 1.5km of track, drainage work across 500m of railway, and the recovery of 3.4km of redundant cable, whilst a number of different ground surveys also took place.
Jonathan Hepton, Sponsor on the Transpennine Route Upgrade, said:
“I’d like to thank customers travelling between Huddersfield and Leeds over the last four weeks for their support as we delivered this vital work.
“The improvements will enable more reliable services that better connect towns and cities across the North.”
Collaboration between Network Rail, TransPennine Express and Nothern saw diversionary routes and replacement buses utilised to keep passengers on the move.
Chris Nutton, Major Projects and TRU Director at TransPennine Express, said:
“We’d like to thank colleagues from across the industry for completing the works and keeping customers moving over the past four weeks.”
“The upgrades delivered are a vital part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, which is set to transform the railway line between Huddersfield, Dewsbury, and Leeds. Benefits will include increased train frequency and faster, more reliable journeys for customers.
“We’d also like to thank our customers for their patience whilst these major improvement works took place”.
Throughout August, services through Huddersfield will be affected each weekend, excluding the Bank Holiday (24-25 August) up to Sunday 1 September. This is while we carry out major upgrades at Huddersfield Station, taking passengers one step closer to a station truly fit for the 21st century.
For more updates on all things TRU, follow our journey on X (formerly Twitter), @theTRUpgrade.
Notes to Editors
About Transpennine Route Upgrade
We’re transforming journeys across the North, better connecting towns and cities through more frequent, faster trains, running on a cleaner, greener and more reliable railway.
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).
The following services will be affected on Saturdays and Sundays during weekends in August (excluding the bank holiday), with passengers advised to check www.nationalrail.co.uk before they travel:
- 3-4 August
- 10-11 August
- 17-18 August
- 31 August – 1 September
TPE rail services
- Liverpool Lime Street – Manchester Victoria – Newcastle services will be diverted between Manchester Victoria and Dewsbury, not calling at Stalybridge or Huddersfield but calling additionally at Brighouse.
- Manchester Airport – Manchester Victoria – Saltburn services will start/terminate at Manchester Victoria instead of Manchester Airport. It will be diverted between Manchester Victoria and Dewsbury, not calling at Huddersfield but calling additionally at Brighouse. On Saturdays only, this service will additionally call at Ravensthorpe and Cottingley.
- Manchester Piccadilly – Hull services will only run between Hull and Leeds.
- Manchester Piccadilly – Huddersfield (local stopping service) will only run between Manchester Piccadilly and Marsden.
- Manchester Piccadilly – Huddersfield – Wakefield Kirkgate – York (limited service, Saturdays only) will only run between Manchester Piccadilly and Marsden.
- Leeds – Huddersfield (local stopping service) will not run. Customers travelling from Mirfield, Batley and Morley should use Northern services between Wigan Wallgate – Leeds on Saturdays only.
TPE replacement bus services in operation:
- Manchester Piccadilly – Huddersfield (direct). Up to every 20 minutes.
- Manchester Airport – Stockport – Huddersfield. Hourly service.
- Huddersfield – Slaithwaite – Marsden. Hourly service.
- Huddersfield – Brighouse (extending to Halifax every hour). Every 30 minutes.
- Huddersfield – Deighton – Mirfield (Saturday only). Hourly service.
- Huddersfield – Leeds (local stopping – Sunday only). Hourly service.
- Huddersfield – Wakefield Kirkgate – Castleford – York (Saturdays only). Limited service.
Northern services
- The Sheffield – Huddersfield service will terminate at Lockwood instead of Huddersfield, with rail replacement running between Lockwood – Huddersfield.
- The Huddersfield – Bradford Interchange service won’t run. TPE are running an hourly bus between Huddersfield – Brighouse – Halifax.
There will be another period of midweek blockades in October and November between Ravensthorpe and Leeds.
- 21 to 25 October 2024
- 28 October to 1 November 2024
- 4 November to 8 November 2024
- 11 November to 15 November 2024
- 18 November to 22 November 2024
Replacement services and diversionary routes will be used. Passengers will be advised to check their journeys in advance at nationalrail.co.uk
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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