Train services between Manchester and Sheffield will be disrupted on Sundays 5 and 12 November due to essential work to upgrade the Hope Valley railway line.
On both Sundays, there will be no trains between Sheffield and New Mills whilst engineers at Dore & Totley station construct a second platform and install a new footbridge with lifts, and construct a passing loop between Bamford and Hathersage stations.
Some services between Manchester and Sheffield will run, but via alternative routes, intending passengers should check at nationalrail.co.uk for more information about changes to their journeys.
The Hope Valley Railway Upgrade is a project that began in Spring 2021 to remove several bottlenecks on the line between Manchester and Sheffield. Their removal will allow passenger trains to overtake slower freight trains, and is due for completion early next year.
The main improvements being carried out include:
- a new platform and accessible footbridge with lifts at Dore & Totley station;
- a railway loop between Bamford and Hathersage;
- replace the foot crossing at Hathersage West with a new overbridge to improve safety;
- improve signalling along the line to improve reliability;
- extend platforms to allow the use of longer trains.
Although the work at Dore & Totley will not affect service other than on Sundays, the station car park will remain closed until Tuesday, 14th November. Temporary arrangements have been made for disabled parking and an alternative drop-off point at Ladies Spring Grove. Customers should note that local businesses Hair Union, Rajdhani restaurant, and the Summerhouse restaurant, will remain open and accessible throughout the closure.
During the work at Dore & Totley, customers travelling to the station are encouraged to walk, cycle or car share where possible. In addition, all 97, 98, and 218 bus services that travel along Abbeydale Road South stop outside the station.
Phil Montgomery, Programme Manager from Network Rail said: “Significant construction work has been in progress along the Hope Valley route since July 2022 and it has been great to see the visible progress that has been made so far. The construction of the new platform at Dore & Totley station is just one example of the project coming to life, with plenty more to come.
“Thank you in advance to the passengers and lineside neighbours for your ongoing patience as we continue to upgrade the Hope Valley railway.”
I think that the railways, as with other non-car forms of transport, were seen as being in terminal decline. Hence closures, singling and other cost cutting techniques. I’m glad to see measures being taken to increase capacity along the Hope Valley line as it’s currently the first stage of any rail trip I make.
New platform and lifts? Meanwhile, the would-be passengers with restricted mobility at Northwich, Cheshire, are still not able to access the Chester-bound platform – after 160 years of waiting! Instead, they are advised to travel to the next station, where they are able to cross to the opposite platform, then wait an hour to catch a train to return them to the accessible platform at Northwich.
The same station was recently the scene of a partial collapse of the station building, with rebuilding work now almost completed – minus the section of canopy lost following the collapse and, to rub salt into the wound, nearby Wilmslow station has just seen a £1.6m refurbishment of its canopy.
I wonder what my great grandfather, David Green, would have thought. He was a Supervisor on the construction of both the Totley and Disley tunnels when the line was built.
This is a very welcome improvement (really a re-instatement) at Dore & Totley, but it demonstrates the folly of the “rationalisation” of this vital Sheffield-Manchester route in the 1960s, when the whole formerly double track route was singled. This was done even though the alternative Woodhead route was having all its passenger services removed and was totally shut down in the 1970s. It is difficult to understand why British Rail considered then that a single track railway was all that was needed to link these two major northern cities.
Did you really mean to say that the whole route between Sheffield and Manchester was reduced to single track? According to my 1988 Quail maps, the only single track is at Dore where the 2 sides of the triangle leading onto the Chesterfield Sheffield (double track) route are single. And, depending on what we define the Hope Valley to be, the Hazel Grove chord is also single track.
Correct that the only siingle bits are tthe 2 chords at Dore and that at Hazel Grove. However Totley tunnel imposes another pinch point as currently there has to be a 6 minute separation between one train laving and the next entering.