New Year, New Track

Tuesday 19 Dec 2023

New Year, New Track

Region & Route: Eastern ^[1]

As people settle down to commence their New Year festivities, engineers working on Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) will start work at Mirfield station.

The upgrades, which are part of a major, multi-billion-pound programme of railway improvements between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York, will involve 663 metres of new track being installed, signal testing and work to the station platforms and Station Road footbridge.

Passengers travelling between Huddersfield and Leeds on Saturday 30 January through to Monday 1 January are being asked to check before they travel via National Rail Enquiries as some trains will be diverted and others will be replaced by buses.

While the upgrades take place, Station Road will be closed from Lowlands Road to Back Station Road. Diversions and signage will be in place.

The work at Mirfield station will bring passengers a number of benefits in the future, which include longer platforms that will enable longer trains with more seats to call at the station, additional waiting shelters and step-free access via lifts and a new footbridge.

This work is part of our wider programme spanning from Manchester to York, that will bring faster, greener and more reliable trains for passengers along the Transpennine route.

Gareth Hope, Sponsor for the Transpennine Route Upgrade, said: “These upgrades are a vital part of our wider programme of work, and I’d like to thank passengers and local residents for their patience and understanding while they take place.

“We understand how important the festive period is for people seeing family and friends, so we have worked closely with our train operating colleagues to keep people on the move.

“I’d encourage anyone travelling by train to plan their journey ahead of time and check National Rail Enquiries for the latest information."

Chris Nutton, Major Projects Director at TransPennine Express, said: "The engineering works at Mirfield station during the New Year period are vital to delivering a railway fit for the 21st century across the North of England. These upgrades will lead to real benefits for our customers who travel between some of the biggest cities in the North.

"While this work takes place during the New Year period, there will be changes to TransPennine Express services, and we would urge our customers to check our website before they travel: www.tpexpress.co.uk/travel-updates/changes-to-train-times."^[2]

Notes to Editors

TRU is 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.)

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 is 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’re employing 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 76-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.

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track ^[3], 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts ^[4] and the thousands of signals ^[5], level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations ^[6] while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies ^[7].

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 ^[8], so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan ^[9], 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.

References

^{^} Eastern (www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk)
^{^} www.tpexpress.co.uk/travel-updates/changes-to-train-times (eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com)
^{^} track (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} bridges, tunnels and viaducts (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} signals (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} stations (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} train operating companies (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} a safe and reliable railway (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan (www.networkrail.co.uk)
^{^} @networkrail (twitter.com)
^{^} http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/ (www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk)