TRU wraps up seven consecutive weekends of upgrade work
| On Sunday (August 17), engineers completed a series of railway upgrades between Manchester, Huddersfield and Leeds following seven consecutive weekends of work, as part of the multi-billion-pound Transpennine Route Upgrade.
The work included major structural enhancements to bridges across West Yorkshire with progress made on the reconstruction of the A62 Leeds Road bridge in Deighton and the installation of a new bridge deck at Station Road bridge in Mirfield, where a 450ft crane was used. The reconstruction of the A62 Leeds Road bridge is part of TRU plans to make it taller and wider, which will facilitate railway upgrades throughout Deighton and beyond – it will allow for overhead line equipment (OLE) installation which will power electric trains in the future, and means the number of tracks can be doubled from two to four. This enables faster trains to overtake slower ones, shortening journey times. A 450ft crane was brought in to carry out the installation of a new bridge deck at Station Road bridge in Mirfield. The beams were replaced, significantly increasing the bridge’s lifespan and making it a much stronger structure – this upgrade will also support the lengthening of the platform by allowing it to span across the bridge, so that longer trains with more seats can stop at the station. Track renewal works were undertaken across the stretch of railway between Stalybridge, Huddersfield and Dewsbury – this upgrade of infrastructure will mean smoother, more reliable journeys. Strides were also made in delivering a greener railway, as work on foundations for OLE masts was carried out across West Yorkshire. This follows the recent introduction of electric passenger services between York and Church Fenton, which means 25% of the Transpennine route is now electrified. Andrew Campbell, TRU sponsor, said: “We’re pleased to have successfully completed our latest phase of upgrades safely and on time. The work spanned seven weekends and involved some complex challenges, but our teams worked around the clock and have taken us one step closer to delivering a faster, greener, more reliable railway across the Pennines. “It’s an exciting period for TRU as the scale of engineering work across the route really ramps up.” Customers were kept on the move thanks to TRU’s Enterprise model, which ensures close collaboration with Northern and TransPennine Express. A £100m TRU investment in diversionary routes allows trains to run on a more resilient railway when other lines are closed, whilst rail replacement bus services were in operation for intermediate stations. Chris Nutton, Major Projects and TRU Director at TransPennine Express, said: “The works completed during the past seven weekends bring us one step closer to a number of benefits that will significantly improve the railway in the North. We’d like to thank our customers for their patience and cooperation whilst these major improvement works took place. “We now shift our focus to the 30-day closure of Huddersfield, which will affect all our services that run between Manchester, Huddersfield and Leeds from Saturday 30 August to Sunday 28 September. I urge all customers to check before they travel during this time.” From Saturday 30 August, Huddersfield station will close for 30 days, whilst Deighton station will close until 2027. These closures will impact services from Huddersfield to Manchester, Leeds, York, Bradford and Sheffield, with customers urged to plan their journeys ahead of time at nationalrail.co.uk. |