Transpennine Route Upgrade turns another page on Social Values …

Thursday 14 Dec 2023

Transpennine Route Upgrade turns another page on Social Values

Region & Route: Eastern ^[1]

The Transpennine Route Upgrade has today (14 December) launched a new book along with author Chris Madeley.

The launch event in Huddersfield saw 60 pupils from Spring Grove Primary get a first look at the book which is aimed at children and provides an insight into safety on the railway, the benefits of the TRU programme and fun facts about the places along the route.

Other attendees included local councillors, who saw another chapter in TRU’s rollout of their sustainability strategy with a focus on social values.

The book, titled ‘Cones and The Transpennine Upgrade’, tells the story of four cones who travel across the route between Manchester and York, learning about the work taking place and how it’s completed.

Chris Madeley, creator of the ‘Cones’ book series, said: “I am delighted to have written this book for the TRU programme – I think it’s a great way to engage children with the railway and its importance for the North.

“The book is fun and colourful, but also informative and educational. I hope the children enjoyed the book launch event and learned something new about the Transpennine Route Upgrade and how to stay safe near railways.”

The event underpinned TRU’s commitment to improve the lives of the communities along the Transpennine Route Upgrade, as outlined in its sustainability strategy. The strategy aims to ensure that the programme delivers positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes for the North, as well as improving rail travel for passengers. More information on this can be found in our suitability strategy - https://thetrupgrade.co.uk/ourguidingcompass/^[2].

Anna Humphries, Head of Sustainability and Social Values on TRU said: “We are very pleased to have collaborated with Chris Madeley on this book – we think it’s a wonderful initiative to raise awareness and interest in the TRU programme among the younger generation.

“The book is not only entertaining, but also highlights the long term benefits of the programme and its role in shaping the future of the North.

“This opportunity links directing into our sustainability strategy, which outlines our aims to unlock significant economic, social and environmental benefits across the route. We hope the book will inspire the children to learn more about the railway and how major projects such as Transpennine Route Upgrades are completed.”

The TRU programme will transform the Transpennine main line into a high-performing, reliable railway, bringing more frequent, more reliable, faster, greener trains. Under its Sustainability Strategy, TRU will work with communities, engaging over 100,000 young people through inclusive education programme, employing 590 apprentices and delivering over 30,000 placement days to support new entrants joining the industry.

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)
^{^} https://thetrupgrade.co.uk/ourguidingcompass/ (thetrupgrade.co.uk)
^{^} 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)