Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced that the investment for TransPennine Route Upgrades (TRU) is to be more than trebled.
The increase in funding, from £2.9bn to more than £9bn, will strengthen the TRU and Northern PowerHouse Rail, and transform the project into a ‘gold standard' in delivering the Government's priority of Levelling Up the country. Journey times will be slashed and provide the foundations for Northern PowerHouse Rail. Carbon emissions will be reduced by up to 87,000 tons per year.
Additional funding will be spent on digital signalling technology, electrification of the full route, and building additional tracks for passenger and freight services.
The full route will be fitted with the latest technology, from complete electrification and full digital signalling, to increased capacity along the route for passenger and freight services between Huddersfield and Westtown in Dewsbury, doubling tracks from two to four.
A further £959m of funding has been released to progress the next phase of TRU between Manchester and York. This will allow completion of the electrification between Stalybridge and Manchester, which will enable shorter journey times and trans-Pennine rail freight flows with electric trains between Manchester and Stalybridge, expected by 2025.
The funding will also allow Northern Powerhouse Rail to potentially double the number of direct construction jobs from 2000 to up to 4,000, take thousands of lorries off the roads, and deliver better journeys sooner for passengers across the North.
Once complete, the TransPennine Route Upgrade is expected to deliver multiple benefits. It will deliver an extra two passenger trains every hour and additional hourly freight slots. The upgrades are expected to result in more reliable journeys and slash journey times by up to 40%. The TRU is part of the Integrated Rail Plan and will hit the tracks from 2025, thereby boosting economic growth and creating local skilled jobs.
Northern Powerhouse Rail will be fully electrified, improving the local environment and air quality across the North.
Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps said
“Through our record-breaking Integrated Rail Plan, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redesign the railways and it's only right that we deliver this in line with the best quality technology at our disposal.
“By trebling the overall investment in the TRU, I'm ensuring the North is at the forefront of the Government's Levelling Up agenda and guaranteeing passengers gold standard services set to deliver greener, faster and reliable services through Northern Powerhouse Rail, electrification, and additional train tracks.”
The Transpennine route upgrade has been underway for some time. You can see some of the work involved, including the raising of bridges, here.
Shame that the electrification between Colton Junction-Church Fenton is only short and is only to be used for Bi-mode LNER Class 800 and TPE Class 802 IETs.