Monday 8 Apr 2024
TRU thanks passengers after 10 days of upgrade work in Huddersfield
- Region & Route:
- Eastern
The Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) is expressing its appreciation to passengers for their patience and support while parts of the railway line through Huddersfield were closed for 10 days.
From Friday 29 March to Sunday 7 April, major rail upgrades were completed between Huddersfield and Ravensthorpe.
Working around the clock, engineers completed mining remediation work in Ravensthorpe and Huddersfield, upgraded over 700m of track in Deighton and Mirfield and installed a new bridge deck on Huddersfield viaduct.
To keep passengers moving during the upgrade work, diversionary routes and replacement bus services were utilised.
The work is part of a multi-billion pound Transpennine Route Upgrade, which will transform journeys across the North of England, enabling more frequent, faster trains to run along a fully electrified route between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
The final results at Huddersfield station will see the construction of two new platforms, the extension of existing platforms, improved accessibility and track upgrades, with the number of tracks between Huddersfield and Ravensthorpe doubling from two to four.
Gareth Hope, Sponsor on the Transpennine Route Upgrade, said:
“I’d like to thank passengers who travelled through Huddersfield over the last 10 days for their patience and understanding during these essential upgrades.
“The work was completed successfully, safely and on time. This takes us a step closer to bringing about major benefits and improvements for passengers travelling along the Transpennine route”.
Chris Nutton, Major Projects Director at TransPennine Express said:
“The work completed over the past ten days forms a critical foundation of the upgrades Huddersfield station will see in the coming years, enabling benefits across the wider North as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.
“We’d like to thank our customers for their patience and cooperation whilst these major improvement works took place over the past ten days".
Read more about the Transpennine Route Upgrade
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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