UK Government More Than Trebles Investment in Transpennine Route Upgrade

The UK Government is more than trebling its investment into the Transpennine route upgrade (TRU).

Engineers carrying out major rail upgrades between Manchester and Stalybridge
Engineers carrying out major rail upgrades between Manchester and Stalybridge

The TRU was announced in November 2021 as part of the Government’s integrated rail plan for the North and Midlands. Funding has now been increased from 2.9 billion GBP (3.42bn EUR | 3.43bn USD) to over 9bn GBP (10.63bn EUR | 10.64bn USD).

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says this will strengthen the TRU and Northern Powerhouse Rail and deliver on the government’s promise of ‘levelling up’ the whole of the UK.

The full route will be fitted with the latest technology, from complete electrification to full digital signalling, and capacity will be increased by doubling the number of tracks from two to four between Huddersfield and Westtown in Dewsbury.

A further 959m GBP (1132.6 EUR | 1133.6m USD) of funding has been released to progress the next phase of the TRU between Manchester and York.

This will be spent on electrification of the railway between Stalybridge and Manchester.

This will enable shorter journey times and Transpennine rail freight flows when electric trains between Manchester and Stalybridge enter service around 2025.

Grant Shapps, UK Transport Secretary, 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.”

Once complete, the TRU is expected to deliver multiple benefits including an extra two passenger trains every hour and additional hourly freight slots.

Upgrades are expected to service more reliable journeys and slash journey times by up to 40%.

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