Transpennine Route Upgrade, “the right thing to do” for the North, says Rail Minister
It's hope the major rail upgrade will cut journey times between Manchester, Leeds and York
The £11.5bn Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) is “the right thing to do” for the North, according to Rail Minister, Lord Peter Hendy.
Lord Hendy visited the project’s Ravensthorpe site on Thursday, February 27, and was joined by Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, local schoolchildren and TRU apprentices. During the visit a time capsule was buried, marking the project’s success so far and to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway, when Britain and the world changed forever.
The time capsule is the first on TRU and will sit under the foundations of the new viaduct, remaining in place for hundreds of years. Items stored include a letter to the finder, a rail ticket from Manchester to York, a dated local newspaper, and schoolchildren’s designs for how the railway will look 200 years from now.
When asked about the significance of today’s event, Lord Hendy said: “What’s really significant is these kids are going to grow up in a world with more opportunity, with better housing and more access to jobs than they would do if this wasn’t being done. That’s pretty good. That’s worth getting out of bed for. This is great for me.”
Ravensthorpe is home to one of the biggest civil-engineering sites in the country, where a new viaduct and fly-over will allow faster trains to overtake slower ones and the relocation of the station. This will enable the number of tracks to be doubled from two to four, to allow faster services and increased capacity across the Pennines.
Elsewhere in Kirklees, Huddersfield’s iconic Grade-I Listed railway station is undergoing a £70m makeover which is expected to be completed in 2027, though electrification of the line will continue beyond this date. Facilities are being modernised, while the building’s historical and cultural importance are preserved.
We also asked Lord Hendy if he thought the TRU would be a catalyst to put an end to unreliable services in West Yorkshire. He said: “There are two answers to that. It will make a huge difference, because it’s going to be a new and better railway, and it will have the capacity to run far more trains, and they’ll be electrified, and that will be a big, major change.
“The railway service provided, by Northern particularly, isn’t as good as it should be at the moment. Northern has been in public ownership for six years. When this government came into power last summer we inherited a train service that didn’t run at all well, with a management that weren’t particularly encouraged to do a good job by the previous government, and we’re busting a gut to change it because it’s not good enough.
“There’s some discussions between management and trade unions going on at the moment, and we are determined that even in the short term that Northern runs a regular service. I monitor it constantly. I was in touch with the managing director last night and this morning.
“So it’s not something that’s remote or distant, and we know it’s not good enough, and we’re going to fix it, but this investment is different. Again, this is going to transform travel across the Pennines in a way that nobody probably can yet imagine, both in speed, in journey time, in capacity and in reliability. And it’s the right thing to do for Northern England.”
Commenting on how the TRU fits into her wider vision for West Yorkshire, Mayor Tracy Brabin said: “TRU is absolutely pivotal, and we were just hearing that it’s on time and on budget, and will unlock Manchester-Leeds in a way that we haven’t got at the moment.
“And we’re stood here in Ravensthorpe and the viaduct is going to enable more trains, faster trains, greener trains, but also stopping services for that connectivity that we really need, because at the moment, stopping trains are slowing down fast inter city trains. This is going to uncouple them, so you’re going to have those fast interconnections between Leeds and Manchester, really vital to grow our economy.
“But also areas like Ravensthorpe, areas of disadvantage across this line as well, are going to have those stopping trains. So young people, and you’ve seen a few of them here today, will get that great opportunity to get into Leeds, get into Manchester, to get to Bradford for all those great jobs.
“So it’s quite a moment, actually, and talking to the apprentices about how proud they are working on this project, because the actual structure is going to be really beautiful and they’re really proud to be part of that ambitious infrastructure project.
“And also for me as Mayor, it really helps me make the case. ‘This is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the country. We can do it. So give us mass transit, tram. Don’t worry about that, a new station at Bradford, extensions in Leeds. We’re the home of engineering, we will show you what we can do.”
Significant upgrades are beginning to come into fruition as part of the TRU, with electric services are already running between Manchester and Stalybridge, and some electric services due to begin between Church Fenton and York later this year. The TRU says that new trains, more services and more seats which will up capacity by a third, plus improved connectivity between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York, will leave a lasting social and economic impact on the region.
The project currently has a workforce of 5,000 people and aims to provide 8,000 roles in its lifetime. At least 60 percent of the project workforce are employed from within 25 miles of the route and 80 percent within 40 miles. The project also uses local businesses, with over £500m has been spent with small and medium enterprises so far.
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