Rail Minister announces £3.9billion of government cash for the Transpennine Route Upgrade project during visit to Dewsbury

Today (Monday) the Rail Minister, Huw Merriman, announced the government is investing £3.9billion into the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU).

The investment will allow the Ravensthorpe site to mobilise two major projects: a new four-track viaduct and a new power supply which will power the full electrification of lines between Manchester and York.

Mr Merriman said the site will be “the heartbeat of the Transpennine Route Upgrade for the years to come”.

The TRU aims to provide faster, more reliable and more frequent rail journeys between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.

The line will be fully electrified, with digital signalling, improved stations and more frequent, faster services.

Electrified lines and increasing the number of freight trains to take lorries off the road will reduce carbon emissions, and digital signalling will allow more trains to operate closer together.

Increasing the number of tracks from two to four between Huddersfield and Ravensthorpe will mean that fast trains can overtake slower trains, allowing stopping services to continue operating without delaying faster services.

This should reduce journey time between Leeds and Manchester from 55 minutes to 41 minutes.

This part of the project is predicted to be completed by the end of the decade.

Mr Merriman said: “This is an area where transport has not been good enough on rail.

“It is really exciting to see that in years to come, where we’re standing right now will be the ability for faster trains to go past slower trains. That will reduce the average delay time by a half.

“The UK government is spending more money on the Transpennine Route Upgrade than has been spent by the UK government on the Elizabeth line.

“It’s part of our commitment to make sure that the north gets the rail service it deserves.”

The £3.9billion investment will allow the Ravensthorpe site to begin work on these two projects.

Foundational work has begun for the new four-track line which will allow trains to overtake at 110mph, and the four-track viaduct will allow trains to cross the River Calder.

The site will also be home to the main power supply which will power the fully-electrified lines all the way from Stalybridge to the other side of Leeds.

Neil Holm, managing director of TRU, said: “ [The Ravensthorpe site] is going to be one of our larger civil engineering projects so it allows us to effectively four-track the railway from just the other side of the river near Dewsbury all the way to Huddersfield.

"So [it is] a hugely important site and two very important projects that form the foundation of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.”

Chris Jackson, managing director at Transpennine Express, said: “We will benefit from the extensive investment that’s part of the £11billion programme, and it’s our customers who will see those improvements in due time and more frequent services between Leeds and Manchester.”

Dewsbury MP Mark Eastwood welcomed today’s announcement, as well as the 8,000 jobs that will be created through the TRU.

He said the Ravensthorpe site “is potentially going to become the largest construction site in the north of England”.

He added: “It’s good news for the people of Dewsbury.

“We’re going to get employment opportunities for young people, apprentices and for skilled workforces as well, so it is very positive today.

“The rail service at the moment is a bit of a mess.

“So this is great news in terms of frequency of trains and it cuts down the amount of time it takes to get from York to Manchester.

“The most important thing is we have reliable, on-time trains and that’s something that will come in time.

"There will be a small amount of disruption in terms of works that are going on, and all I would say to people in Dewsbury is let’s be patient.

"It’s great news and it is going to be really positive for the area.”