Transpennine Route Upgrade and Electrification updates

[Killingworth]

Can't see that happening at White Rose; the railway is up on a high embankment so the cost would be astronomical (and would destroy the case for the station). Electrification and EMU performance should offset the time penalty for the additional stop.

Looks like White Rose opening could be at expense of Cottingley downgrading; White Rose Rail Station Sustaining both might well help local users but not longer distance passengers.

 

[Ianno87]

Looks like White Rose opening could be at expense of Cottingley downgrading; White Rose Rail Station Sustaining both might well help local users but not longer distance passengers.

Although White Rose is so close that with some carefully sited entrances and exits it will serve a lot of Cottingley's catchment area pretty well anyway, and probably better service more people overall (unless you currently literally live right next to Cottingley station itself)

 

[swt_passenger]

I think that's gauge clearance and loop extensions so that longer container trains can run on the route, plus some signalling changes.
There was a major upgrade of the port infrastructure, rail terminals and the tunnel at Southampton recently.

Local media in Oxford is describing the £69million as for advance works for the new Oxford platform 5 and associated track works.

The BBC article about it has:

About £69m will pay for the first stage of the Oxford Phase 2 project to improve freight capacity from Southampton into the Midlands and the North

Government announce £401m boost for rail services

A £401m government investment will see routes electrified and new stations for Leeds and Exeter.

www.bbc.co.uk

So this section of the work probably needs to be in a different thread, so I’ve started one:

Oxford Station platform 5 and western entrance

Network Rail have issued a press release that explains exactly what today’s £69m is for: I thought a specific thread ought to be started, as although it is related to EWR NR consider it to be a separate project. For some reason DfT have announced it as a Southampton to Midlands freight...

www.railforums.co.uk

Southampton to Midlands gauge clearance and loop extension on the wider network was long completed. (Tunnel was complete by 2010) It would be a stretch even for DfT to re-announce any of that.

 

[SuperNova]

Just a reannouncement today, tactically with a byelection in Batley looming. What odds on them showing up in Batley today for a photo op...

 

[Watershed]

Just a reannouncement today, tactically with a byelection in Batley looming. What odds on them showing up in Batley today for a photo op...

Batley, of course, not being set to see improvements anytime soon!

 

[D6130]

Just a reannouncement today, tactically with a byelection in Batley looming. What odds on them showing up in Batley today for a photo op...

Hmm...I doubt it. They haven't announced electrification of the stretch through Batley yet. However, on second thoughts - given this government's total incompetence and lack of joined-up thinking - maybe they will after all.

 

[YorksLad12]

Although White Rose is so close that with some carefully sited entrances and exits it will serve a lot of Cottingley's catchment area pretty well anyway, and probably better service more people overall (unless you currently literally live right next to Cottingley station itself)

It'll be a long walk, and you'd get calls for a footbridge across Elland Road as well; it's not like Chapeltown's stations. It's possible that Cottingley will be reduced to peak time calls on one of the stopping services. It will also depend on how the resited (if it is) Morley station works. Pity we can't come out of Morley and run a straight line to Cottingley or just beyond...

 

[Wtloild]

I'm just hoping that the stations at White Rose and Thorpe Park allow overtaking (even if four platforms is too much to wish for), otherwise we're just pricing in yet more bottlenecks on a two track

There should be bags of room at Thorpe Park (close to the office I've not visited for 14 months) for 4 platforms if the will is there.

 

[snowball]

Grant Shapps has announced electrification from York to Church Fenton, where we can already see the masts going up.
The funding for the Huddersfield-Westtown (Dewsbury) upgrade has also been approved (though it has to go through the TWA process first).
£401 million investment into upgrades to deliver brighter rail future - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

I'm not convinced that specific funding has yet been announced for Hudds to Westtown, though I expect it will be confirmed when needed, as I seem to remember a bit in the documents with the TWAO application that said NR had been working with DfT on the project spec.

£401M has been announced today of which £317M is for TRU. This £317M is additional to the £589M announced in July 2020. As I see it, this brings the total confirmed funding for TRU to £906M; if this is tied to any specific parts of the overall project then details have not been published. However this is in the context that Hudds to Westtown is currently projected to cost £1.45 billion or thereabouts, and the cost envelope for the whole project is or was supposed to be £2.9 or 3 billion.

 

[Bald Rick]

Fairly sure this is the first announcement of funding for the delivery of Colton - Church Fenton.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Fairly sure this is the first announcement of funding for the delivery of Colton - Church Fenton.

Agreed. I know piling and other work had started and thus it was the obvious presumption that the section would be electrified (section E1 I think?) but I have been keeping a careful eye on this project and I am pretty certain this is the first time I have seen official funding for it.

 

[59CosG95]

Hmm...I doubt it. They haven't announced electrification of the stretch through Batley yet. However, on second thoughts - given this government's total incompetence and lack of joined-up thinking - maybe they will after all.

I seem to remember from the Huddersfield-Dewsbury page that electrification would continue "right through to Leeds", so that implies the stretch through Batley, Morley, Cottingley/White Rose to Leeds will indeed be wired. The details of the wiring of that stretch still need to be fleshed out, however.

 

[snowball]

Fairly sure this is the first announcement of funding for the delivery of Colton - Church Fenton.

Has Victoria to Stalybridge been announced? I don't think it has. The modus operandi now seems to be to do things on the quiet.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There's this in the DfT announcement:

Transport Minister Andrew Stephenson will visit major works taking place along the Transpennine route in Yorkshire today, including at Leeds, Hambleton and Colton, to see electrification works that form an important part of the government’s agenda to achieve zero carbon by 2050. Proposals for even more extensive electrification on the route are currently being considered.

Maybe something else will slip out from Andrew Stephenson then (the minister responsible).
What's he doing at Hambleton? That's not on the TPU is it?
The TPU funding announced today is £317m, a large and very precise figure.
What is it for, if not wiring? Is it the land-take/earthworks/bridgeworks Huddersfield-Westtown?
The extensive Huddersfield station mods? Signalling changes?
Would be nice to know.
Presumably it's the money NR needs to continue delivering the work in the next phase.
Wiring would inevitably come later in the cycle.

 

[Watershed]

There's this in the DfT announcement:


Maybe something else will slip out from Andrew Stephenson then (the minister responsible).
What's he doing at Hambleton? That's not on the TPU is it?
The TPU funding announced today is £317m, a large and very precise figure.
What is it for, if not wiring? Is it the land-take/earthworks/bridgeworks Huddersfield-Westtown?
The extensive Huddersfield station mods? Signalling changes?
Would be nice to know.
Presumably it's the money NR needs to continue delivering the work in the next phase.
Wiring would inevitably come later in the cycle.

There's the feeder at Hambleton. It obviously doesn't make any sense installing a feeder if you're not going to wire at least as far as there (and ideally another 20 or so miles in the other direction) but it wouldn't be the first example of such folly!

 

[hwl]

Fairly sure this is the first announcement of funding for the delivery of Colton - Church Fenton.

Agreed

There's the feeder at Hambleton. It obviously doesn't make any sense installing a feeder if you're not going to wire at least as far as there (and ideally another 20 or so miles in the other direction) but it wouldn't be the first example of such folly!

The exiting ECML power supply needs some improvement along that stretch, (one stone, many birds)

 

[WatcherZero]

The £317m is to wire York to Church Fenton and theres £15m for stations; Marsh Barton in Exeter and White Rose and Thorpe Park in Leeds.

 

[Brissle Girl]

£317m for 5 route miles (20 single track miles) of railway would make the GW project appear an absolute bargain, so I don't think that's all it is covering.

 

[snowball]

The £317m is to wire York to Church Fenton

Are you claiming to read that from the press release? I don't think there's anything there to justify drawing that conclusion. Or do you have independent information?

York to Church Fenton comprises

(i) York to Colton Junction, already wired;

(ii) Colton Junction to just north of Church Fenton station; 5 miles of 4 tracks; scope carefully defined to omit difficulties at CF; overbridges already done several years ago.

As Brissle Girl says, that sounds a lot.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

The modus operandi now seems to be to do things on the quiet.

Yes I have noticed that in the last year or so too. In the past a scheme would be shouted from the hilltops. Now, it almost looks like they want to under-promise and over deliver.

 

[td97]

York to Colton Junction, already wired

To be renewed. Both the Leeds lines and ECML lines

 

[M60lad]

Not to sure if its anything to do with the bridge but looking at a mobile message sign that's gone up on Queens Road/Oldham Road this past week but Queens Road will be closed at the Bridge from this weekend 29th for about a week.

Interesting thing is that there's no engineering works planned in the location this weekend as nothing is mentioned on either National Rail or Northern/Trans Pennine websites.

 

[Iskra]

I reckon there could be scope for both a Cottingley and White Rose station, if a TP service is diverted via Wakefield and Castleford to York it could work.

It seems a shame to close Cottingley when there has been so much housing development around the station area and when the White Rose must be suffering a massive decline in footfall.

 

[takno]

I reckon there could be scope for both a Cottingley and White Rose station, if a TP service is diverted via Wakefield and Castleford to York it could work.

It seems a shame to close Cottingley when there has been so much housing development around the station area and when the White Rose must be suffering a massive decline in footfall.

It seems a shame to make a bit-of-nothing local station half a mile from the nearest alternative work if it's to be at the expense of a well-used express train skipping its most important stop.

 

[Iskra]

It seems a shame to make a bit-of-nothing local station half a mile from the nearest alternative work if it's to be at the expense of a well-used express train skipping its most important stop.

Usage is steadily growing, some years jumping 5% or more. People could just use one of the plethora of other express trains stopping at Leeds, or they could join two trains together rather than wasting capacity with short trains which causes reliability issues.

TP are already serving Wakefield Kirkgate, Castleford is getting a second platform, continuing that service to York is the logical next step. You may as well use the released capacity on the core to move people. Leeds needs all the urban stations it can get as the centre is already clogged with buses.

It seems short-sighted to close a station with growing use, to open one that's business case is unravelling rapidly...

 

[InOban]

To be renewed. Both the Leeds lines and ECML lines

If it needs renewal, that's maintenance. Nothing to do with TPU, surely.

 

[WatcherZero]

Are you claiming to read that from the press release? I don't think there's anything there to justify drawing that conclusion. Or do you have independent information?

York to Church Fenton comprises

(i) York to Colton Junction, already wired;

(ii) Colton Junction to just north of Church Fenton station; 5 miles of 4 tracks; scope carefully defined to omit difficulties at CF; overbridges already done several years ago.

As Brissle Girl says, that sounds a lot.

TransPennine Upgrade moves forward with further funding | Railnews | Today's news for Tomorrow's railway

However, it emerged in January that the money would not be enough to pay for electrification as well, but today’s additional funding will be enough to wire up the section between York and Church Fenton, the Department for Transport said. It added: ‘Proposals for even more extensive electrification on the route are currently being considered.’

 

[Bald Rick]

If it needs renewal, that's maintenance. Nothing to do with TPU, surely.

Maintenance is checking / repairing what’s there.

Renewal is replacing it (and accounted for differently, as per accounting standards).

 

[SuperNova]

I reckon there could be scope for both a Cottingley and White Rose station, if a TP service is diverted via Wakefield and Castleford to York it could work.

It seems a shame to close Cottingley when there has been so much housing development around the station area and when the White Rose must be suffering a massive decline in footfall.

That's WYCA for you

 

[snowball]

TransPennine Upgrade moves forward with further funding | Railnews | Today's news for Tomorrow's railway

I think that's just Railnews's reading of the DfT press release and not necessarily more reliable than anybody else's interpretation of the same words.