Significant track and signalling work was carried out last weekend on the Hope Valley Railway Upgrade between Manchester and Sheffield to bring it a step nearer completion.
The project started in the spring of 2021 and is scheduled for completion this spring, after which services along the line will be more reliable as passenger trains will be able to pass slower freight trains. During the work the following work took place:
- Between Stockport and New Mills, a new signalling system covering over 13 miles of track which includes 12 new signals to improve the line speed capability was commissioned and marked the completion of upgrades along this part of the line.
- At Grindleford in Derbyshire, 380m of track was laid, which included installing 430 sleepers and laying 1,850 tonnes of ballast;
- At Dore & Totley station, the first set of stairs was lifted into place as part of a new, accessible footbridge.
The overall Hope Valley Railway Upgrade is intended to remove several bottlenecks between Manchester and Sheffield. The major works include:
- Provision of a new platform and accessible footbridge with lifts at Dore & Totley station;
- Installation of a loop line between Bamford and Hathersage;
- Replacement of a foot crossing at Hathersage West by an overbridge;
- Signalling improvements along the line;
- Extending platforms to allow the use of longer trains.
The work just completed was the first of four successive weekend closures of the line when all train services were cancelled. During the next three weekends, final upgrades will take place at Grindleford and Dore & Totley, then at the end of March, the line will be closed for nine days to enable the completion of the project.
Graeme Whitehead, Senior Sponsor for the Hope Valley Railway Upgrade, said: “This was an important weekend for the scheme as we installed new track and carried out both signalling upgrades and further platform works at Dore & Totley.
“It brings us another step closer to improving the connectivity of Manchester and Sheffield and realising the benefits for passengers travelling by train.”
“Jim Goldsby, Project Director from VolkerRailStory JV, which is delivering the project, said: “It's been a successful weekend on the project where the team reacted well to challenges created by difficult weather conditions.
“We're pleased with the progress of work so far and are looking forward to completing the scheme over the coming months.”
Chris Nutton, Major Projects Director at TransPennine Express, said: “The work on the Hope Valley line is another key milestone in upgrading the railway in the North. The major improvements we will see come to life in the coming weeks are vital for the delivery of more reliable services for our customers between Manchester and Sheffield.
“While these works are being carried out, we will be operating an amended timetable on our South route services between Liverpool Lime Street and Cleethorpes and diverting some trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield. Where this isn't possible, rail replacement buses will run to keep you moving. We'd like to advise customers to check before they travel.”
Will this new platform mean that EMR trains from London will now be able to stop at Dore and Totley instead of the public having to go into Sheffield and sometimes having to wait an hour to get a train back to Dore.
These trains pass through Dore on the outward and return journey and wouldnt it make it a more convenient system to allow the public to travel from their local station.
No, the platforms at Dore will both be on the lines towards Manchester, no platforms on the lines through Dore that run to Chesterfield.
No mention of a reinstated double junction at Dore. Has this been done?, if not then punctuality will still not improve.
Just be grateful it us getting done here and not in the south east
It will make journeys faster.
Won’t get stuck at Dore in the single track section waiting for another train to pass.
I’ve been put off travelling by rail due to so many instances of poor service. And it is highly unlikely that I will get on another train as travelling by car is much more preferable. Yet for those that do use the railway network a staggering amount of money is spent making the service WORSE for years and years while they believe they are making improvements. Do they think we are that gullible to expect the changes will make the service better than it was before. I for one don’t think the service will improve, yet so much money is used to get us to think it will.
Travel by car and get delayed on the motorways, it always takes longer than the satnav initially tells you and be VERY careful in lane 1 on the so called “smart” motorways.
This is a perfect example of long promised improvement which takes years and years to complete (even decades).How can the public be expected to have any confidence in rail, if the given improvements take so long.Years of bustitutions are no advertisement for rail travel.Many people’s perception is that rail travel never seems to improve and the prospect of more driver’strikes is not going to help again this year.When will the rail industry ever get it all together? I suspect many people think ” not in my lifetime”.