TRU wraps up a month of major upgrades transforming train travel

Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) teams have completed over 32 days of major upgrades between Leeds and York, helping deliver faster, greener, more frequent services across the North.

The work delivered by an army of hundreds of people includes 70 new signals installed and made operational, 3km of track renewed, along with eleven switches and crossings. These upgrades will bring faster, more reliable services in the future, and work being undertaken on overhead line equipment (OLE) means they will run on an electrified, greener railway.

Church Fenton was the centre of activity during this period, with tracks through the area remodelled and platforms 3 and 4 at the station re-aligned, meaning the overall line speed increases here in the future, reducing journey times. The installation of a new passing loop will also enable direct services to overtake stopping ones, increasing capacity to allow more trains to run.

James Richardson, TRU Managing Director, said:

 “It’s great to have completed these critical railway upgrades, between Leeds and York. Facing all weathers, our teams worked around the clock during the Christmas period and through January, delivering a host of improvements for passengers, safely and on time.

“Our work highlights the impact we are making in transforming the railway in the North of England, helping to enable economic growth, while building future capability for major projects.

“We have had a strong start to the year, and 2026 will have even more benefits being delivered for passengers. We’d like to thank customers and our local communities for their understanding, as we completed this essential work.”

 Throughout the work customers have been supported with over 1600 train journeys via the Castleford diversionary route, while over 300 buses and coaches made 1400 rail replacement bus journeys across the 32 days.

TRU has invested £100m in dedicated train diversionary routes to keep customers on trains as much as possible when the railway is closed for upgrade work.

Andrew Allwright, TRU Programme Delivery Lead for Northern, said:

“A significant amount of work has been completed in and around the Church Fenton area across the last month and it’s fantastic to see what has been achieved by everyone involved in delivering this latest milestone.

“We’d like to thank our customers and local communities for their patience and understanding while these upgrade works have taken place. We’d also like to thank all our colleagues from across the industry who’ve come together to keep customers moving while these works have progressed.”

To deliver the improvements 879 rail wagons, 45 engineering trains, three large cranes and three tamping trains were deployed.