Customers are being reminded to check before they travel as the TRU team reach the halfway mark in their delivery of rail upgrades between Dewsbury and Leeds.
The work is part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, a multi-billion-pound railway programme that will better connect towns and cities across the North, including Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
Work began on Monday 21 October and has progressed well over the past three weeks – 67 overhead line equipment (OLE) foundations have been installed with OLE mast installation to follow, which will enable the full electrification of the railway, powering greener trains through the area and beyond.
Other upgrades include 1662 metres of track renewals, 250 metres of drainage work and 900 metres of cabling removed, which will allow for faster, more reliable services.
Jonathan Hepton, sponsor for the Transpennine Route Upgrade, said: “We’re really pleased with the progress we’ve made so far in completing these vital upgrades.
“Weekday work continues until Friday 22 November, where we’ll have made a big step towards the programme’s wider plans to deliver faster, more frequent trains on a cleaner, more reliable railway.”
Customers have been kept on the move via diversionary routes and rail replacement bus services from Mondays to Fridays, with weekend services unaffected.
These midweek works will continue until Friday 22 November, with customers urged to stay informed at nationalrail.co.uk
Chris Nutton, Major Projects & TRU director at TransPennine Express, said: “It is great to see the amount of work that’s being done to upgrade the railway here in the North. The work between Morley and Leeds will pave the way for the future electrification of a key piece of the route, while the new track and drainage renewal works will improve the reliability for years to come.
“In the remaining two weeks of these works, TransPennine Express won’t be able to run trains on the line through Dewsbury and Morley. To provide as many customer journeys on trains as possible, we will divert trains between Huddersfield and Leeds via Wakefield Kirkgate, increasing journey times. Rail replacement services will connect Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Leeds, and all local stations in between.
“We advise customers to check before they travel. For the people who plan to travel across the Pennines, we’ll have extra staff on hand at stations to help people get from A to B.”
Image credit: Network Rail
