Transpennine Route Upgrade and Electrification updates

Meerkat · 25 Nov 2019

Just get on and do it! Even if all the big projects got canned a quadruple route into Leeds and Church Fenton cut off would have big gains.
Wandering into speculation but I would put in a South Milford to Sherburn chord so that those two stations were on the York-Leeds stopper.

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CrickUK · 25 Nov 2019

The documentation makes reference to the scope including “ realignment of the up and down Leeds lines to achieve A higher line speed of 125mph” given that the works within package E1 finish North of Church Fenton station and the line is near enough dead straight all the way to York, does any one have any idea what work this is referring to.

59CosG95 · 25 Nov 2019

LNW-GW Joint said:
Yes, promising indeed.
You wouldn't think that wiring 5 miles from Colton Jn to Church Fenton (without any obvious operational benefit) would be authorised without also committing to wire the rest of the route on to Neville Hill.
I suppose the E1 scheme might be linked to other work such as the ECML power supply upgrade.
Let's hope the other sections of the route are in the pipeline.
It will be a pricey job wiring the 4 tracks for 125mph - hopefully not using GW Series 1!

It'll most likely be done using UK Master Series - the same stuff on the MML. (A mix of S1 & S2)
The designers chose to use the S1 Monobooms for Tensorex anchoring as part of the MML design; that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be used for TRU.

59CosG95 · 25 Nov 2019

LNW-GW Joint said:
Yes, promising indeed.
You wouldn't think that wiring 5 miles from Colton Jn to Church Fenton (without any obvious operational benefit) would be authorised without also committing to wire the rest of the route on to Neville Hill.
I suppose the E1 scheme might be linked to other work such as the ECML power supply upgrade.
Let's hope the other sections of the route are in the pipeline.
It will be a pricey job wiring the 4 tracks for 125mph - hopefully not using GW Series 1!

To quote this post again, the ECML PSU Phase 2 plan states that upgrade work will take place on the (MP)TSC at Colton Jn, which might be worth bearing in mind for the TRU works.

LNW-GW Joint · 25 Nov 2019

WAO said:
Presumably E1 will allow bi-modes to switch at Church Fenton and so equalise speeds on the ECML.
Also it may provide the connection to HS2 (if built). Hence it is a freestanding scheme, although it should make others more likely to proceed.
Not such a black Friday.
WAO

It will be interesting to see if TPE switch their 802s at Colton Jn when regular services start, as opposed to York station while stopped there.
LNER also have a few services between Leeds and York which could do so.
But sometimes operators/NR are quite conservative about switching power on the run (eg at Didcot).
Extension to Church Fenton will give them double the current scope to use the wires.

hwl · 25 Nov 2019

CrickUK said:
The documentation makes reference to the scope including “ realignment of the up and down Leeds lines to achieve A higher line speed of 125mph” given that the works within package E1 finish North of Church Fenton station and the line is near enough dead straight all the way to York, does any one have any idea what work this is referring to.

North Of Church Fenton is 100mph till Colton Jn but around Church Fenton there is plenty of 70/80/90

Ploughman · 26 Nov 2019

Is the work between Church Fenton - Colton a case of getting the easy site out of the way first? If it is getting wired imminently that is.
No major trackworks needed, Bridges lifted already and a decent Run into the existing wiring at Colton.

Went past today and at least 3 of the work compounds seem to be set up already with various Road / Railers and other plant on site.
Compounds North and South of Copmanthorpe had activity this afternoon.
Visible work seems to consist of dropping out Ballast Dumpy bags every couple of hundred metres or so on the North side of the line.

Glenn1969 · 26 Nov 2019

Is anything happening imminently? The much delayed announcement about the scope of TRU by DfT still hasn't happened has it?

GRALISTAIR · 26 Nov 2019

Glenn1969 said:
Is anything happening imminently? The much delayed announcement about the scope of TRU by DfT still hasn't happened has it?

The DfT is general over about the last 9 months seems to have gone much less transparent. Things do leak out but nothing gets confirmed. I wonder if after the General Election there will be a big announcement no matter who gets in.

WAO · 26 Nov 2019

The DfT like other Govt Departments is in purdah until after the election.
There could always be pledges by politicians - for what they're worth.

WAO

hwl · 27 Nov 2019

GRALISTAIR said:
The DfT is general over about the last 9 months seems to have gone much less transparent. Things do leak out but nothing gets confirmed. I wonder if after the General Election there will be a big announcement no matter who gets in.

I wouldn't say much has changed just that most of the occupants of GMH have been kept busy with cross channel ferry service procurement etc! An election isn't going to remove those issues in the short term.
Just not much happening at DfT for non HS rail due to distractions.

hwl · 27 Nov 2019

Ploughman said:
Is the work between Church Fenton - Colton a case of getting the easy site out of the way first? If it is getting wired imminently that is.
No major trackworks needed, Bridges lifted already and a decent Run into the existing wiring at Colton.

Went past today and at least 3 of the work compounds seem to be set up already with various Road / Railers and other plant on site.
Compounds North and South of Copmanthorpe had activity this afternoon.
Visible work seems to consist of dropping out Ballast Dumpy bags every couple of hundred metres or so on the North side of the line.

I'd agree with that.
Plenty of compartmentalised minor track works to get the line speed up to start with followed by piling etc. The masts, SPS and wiring don't need to follow that quickly given the gap towards Leeds.
There is a limit to how much can sensibly be done at one time and many different ways to prioritise but starting off on some easier cheaper completely defined works certainly makes sense financially.

twin turbo · 13 Dec 2019

hwl said:
I'd agree with that.
Plenty of compartmentalised minor track works to get the line speed up to start with followed by piling etc. The masts, SPS and wiring don't need to follow that quickly given the gap towards Leeds.
There is a limit to how much can sensibly be done at one time and many different ways to prioritise but starting off on some easier cheaper completely defined works certainly makes sense financially.

Be interesting to see if we get an announcement now the election is out of the way.

twin turbo · 14 Dec 2019

People in Church Fenton and Ulleskelf received a letter from Network rail this week advising of major works over the Christmas period to install 24 ducts under the lines to carry cables.

hwl · 14 Dec 2019

twin turbo said:
People in Church Fenton and Ulleskelf received a letter from Network rail this week advising of major works over the Christmas period to install 24 ducts under the lines to carry cables.

That suggests moving a fair chunk of S&C to improve line speed at some point amongst other works.

Foggycorner · 26 Dec 2019

Huddersfield platform 1 being lengthened over christmas added to at tunnel end and also back into end of platform 2

61653 HTAFC · 26 Dec 2019

Foggycorner said:
Huddersfield platform 1 being lengthened over christmas added to at tunnel end and also back into end of platform 2

They kept that quiet! Surprised they're extending P1 at that end, as P2 is already shorter than the originally planned stock for the Sheffield line. Though as the 3-car 150 plan seems to have been abandoned, perhaps that's no longer a problem.

Foggycorner · 26 Dec 2019

OOPS got my platforms mixed P2 lengthened not P1

Tim_UK · 26 Dec 2019

Foggycorner said:
OOPS got my platforms mixed P2 lengthened not P1

So you are saying they extended the Sheffield platform?

Sapphire Blue · 28 Dec 2019

Platform 2 extension finished in time for first train yesterday (Fri).

GRALISTAIR · 28 Dec 2019

Sapphire Blue said:
Platform 2 extension finished in time for first train yesterday (Fri).

Good news

Glenn1969 · 28 Dec 2019

But that is just so Northern can run 3 car trains to Sheffield, not necessarily part of the TRU plans about which there has been no public update for at least 6 months unless I missed something. Did the planned Christmas works at Church Fenton and Ulleskelf actually happen?

twin turbo · 29 Dec 2019

Glenn1969 said:
But that is just so Northern can run 3 car trains to Sheffield, not necessarily part of the TRU plans about which there has been no public update for at least 6 months unless I missed something. Did the planned Christmas works at Church Fenton and Ulleskelf actually happen?

Yes they have been very busy for the last few days with a lot of activity at Ulleskelf and Church Fenton. Going through on the train it looks like they are setting up a big compound at Church Fenton on land adjacent to the railway just past the station heading towards Ulleskelf.

Ploughman · 29 Dec 2019

Which side of the tracks?
Leeds or Normanton lines?

twin turbo · 29 Dec 2019

Ploughman said:
Which side of the tracks?
Leeds or Normanton lines?

Leeds side by the look of it.

61653 HTAFC · 30 Dec 2019

Sapphire Blue said:
Platform 2 extension finished in time for first train yesterday (Fri).

Contrary to the initial reports, the platform has NOT yet been extended at the buffer-stop end: just a few metres added at the tunnel end so far.
I appreciate that this work in and of itself is not part of the Trans-pennine Route Upgrade, but it will affect TPE services once the buffers are moved back.

Would it be worth starting a new thread to cover Penistone line platform extensions? I guess it depends how many forum users get down there regularly to keep us updated, as I'm usually only on the line once a fortnight on average.

ajdunlop · 14 Jan 2020

Not sure if this is the right thread.
The blue pole barriers that get attached to the rails to prevent railway workers falling onto a live railway are going up all around Miles Platting Junction. Does this indicate that the remodelling will be happening soon?

59CosG95 · 14 Jan 2020

ajdunlop said:
Not sure if this is the right thread.
The blue pole barriers that get attached to the rails to prevent railway workers falling onto a live railway are going up all around Miles Platting Junction. Does this indicate that the remodelling will be happening soon?

Not entirely sure, but seeing the "Vortoks" (as they're known) up is surely a sign that something is due to occur...

ajdunlop · 14 Jan 2020

59CosG95 said:
Not entirely sure, but seeing the "Vortoks" (as they're known) up is surely a sign that something is due to occur...

I knew there would be a name for them, thanks.

bengley · 14 Jan 2020

According to the weekly operating notice, the most likely work they're carrying out in this area is simply routine maintenance on switches and crossings (points) on the Slow (Ashton) lines while trains will be running on the Fast (Rochdale) lines, thus the fencing is probably just to protect the workforce

Transpennine Route Upgrade and Electrification updates

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