Transpennine Route Upgrade and Electrification updates

Some pictures of works to create wider bridge abutments at Huddersfield station beyond platform 8? I understand from TRU publications that the throat of station eastwards will be made wider and platforms also extended eastwards.

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Meerkat said:

Why do the Fall Lane houses need to go?

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stibz said:

That is what workmen told me that are working down Fall Lane, how it works I don't know yet, not seen plans for there.

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Geeves said:

Check out post #7,383. Jozsua kindly posted the potential new speed profile. 80 after Staly mostly and 100 from Diggle to the end of Standage tunnel where it drops to 50. 90 again after that.

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snowball said:

According to chapter 2 of the Environmental Statement, page 45, the only building to be demolished in the area is Thornhill House, which is apparently this building. It seems to have previously been industrial and a care home, and will fall within the earthworks.

So perhaps the houses to be demolished are ones which were expected to survive when the ES was written. Could they be this row of four houses on Brooks Yard, off Fall Lane near the junction of Thornhill Road? (You can rotate right and see the railway.)

From Ravensthorpe to Dewsbury the new rail alignment is to the right-hand side of the current one (as seen from a train going towards Leeds), except for a stretch of about 300 yards centred near the Thornhill Road underbridge, where the new line is to the left of the old, to straighten the alignment. The railway will go over Thornhill Road by a new bridge which will be in effect a westward extension of the existing one. The new bridge will be right over the present Thornhill Road/Fall Lane junction.

Fall Lane will have to be diverted to the west, taking it closer to the houses. I haven't seen a plan showing proposed road boundaries or kerblines, but there is a plan in the TWAO docs showing proposed road centre lines (see this, sheet no. 25 (= page 29 in the pdf page numbering)). According to the ES (linked above), page 44, there will be a new retaining wall between the houses and the diverted Fall Lane, but perhaps they've now decided to demolish them instead.

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stibz said:

Yes the houses on Brooks yard where the ones I was thinking about. they are working close to there "Moving pipes & wires" they told me, so it looks like to facilitate change of road direction or moving road, perhaps those houses are in the way.

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snowball said:

Fall Lane will have to be diverted to the west, taking it closer to the houses. I haven't seen a plan showing proposed road boundaries or kerblines, but there is a plan in the TWAO docs showing proposed road centre lines (see this, sheet no. 25 (= page 29 in the pdf page numbering)). According to the ES (linked above), page 44, there will be a new retaining wall between the houses and the diverted Fall Lane, but perhaps they've now decided to demolish them instead.

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jonesy3001 said:

What are the timescales for the wires to go up on the following sections,
York to leeds,
Leeds to huddersfield,
Huddersfield to stalybridge and
Stalybridge to both manchester stations.

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Harvey B said:

Are they only electrifying Leeds to Manchester via Huddersfield? Are they not doing the Calder Valley line too?

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Harvey B said:

Are they only electrifying Leeds to Manchester via Huddersfield? Are they not doing the Calder Valley line too?

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GRALISTAIR said:

That was high on Northern Sparks wish-list (actually number 1) - report is in pinned threads section. But there is no way on gods green earth would they do the two together. Calder Valley is a key diversionary route while TP Upgrade is in progress.

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GRALISTAIR said:

That was high on Northern Sparks wish-list (actually number 1) - report is in pinned threads section. But there is no way on gods green earth would they do the two together. Calder Valley is a key diversionary route while TP Upgrade is in progress.

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jonesy3001 said:

Is that page still going?
Last time I went on that it hadn't been updated since 2019.
Only thing happening on the calder vale line is upgrading the bridge over the m62 near castleton.

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snowball said:

The most recent post in the pinned "Electrification threads and resources" thread, which I assume is the one referred to, was on 17 Dec 2023, and it has had several posts every year.

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GRALISTAIR said:

That was high on Northern Sparks wish-list (actually number 1) - report is in pinned threads section. But there is no way on gods green earth would they do the two together. Calder Valley is a key diversionary route while TP Upgrade is in progress.

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stibz said:

Yes all the way to York to first question and no to second

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Harvey B said:

I know that it doesn't make sense to do both Huddersfield and the Calder Valley at the same time but why on earth are there no proposals to do the Calder Valley separately?

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snowball said:

Just to clarify for the benefit off the questioner, the Northern Sparks report is not government policy. It is quite a number of years old now and seems very optimistic when looked at from today's situation. The Calder Valley route has never been part of the scheme.

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snowball said:

The most recent post in the pinned "Electrification threads and resources" thread, which I assume is the one referred to, was on 17 Dec 2023, and it has had several posts every year since its creation in 2016.

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Examines the 32 Northern & TransPennine Express franchise rail lines without electrification to prioritise future investment for the North's rail networkWelcome to the report of the North of England Electrification Task Force. Our brief was to prioritise the rail lines of the North of England for future electrification and we have done that. The thirty-two lines of the Northern Rail and TransPennine Express franchise areas currently without electrification have all been considered and prioritised. The results have been grouped into three tiers, with Tier One being the most immediate priority. We have placed economic growth at the centre of our work. The Task Force agreed early on that the economic benefits of electrification would be the dominant factor in our assessments. We have worked on the premise that all the lines of the North would be electrified, it is only a question of when. This report is a team effort. That team has come from across the North; bringing together different regions, different political parties and different tiers of government. And it has been a harmonious and unanimous effort throughout. It is from the North for the North. It is to be seen in the context of the government’s investment in the electrification of our rail network. It is also to be seen in the context of the Northern Powerhouse and the work to drive the economy of the North of England.

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WAO said:

When HS2a(?) to Manchester was cancelled, a number of electrification schemes were touted by DfT for the North, such as Leeds - Hull, Sheffield to Manchester and Leeds. The Calder Valley route is a mystery as the plan for a third/additional rail terminal in poor Bradford with a high speed route to Huddersfield (in defiance of all Pennine geography) was also put forward.

All talk of course.

WAO

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Mysterious Site on Transpennine Route leaves Archaeologists digging for answers

Archaeological discoveries in Ravensthorpe have revealed a possible historic small settlement dating back to Roman times, with environmental samples being processed in order to learn the full extent of findings.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Archaeological discoveries in Ravensthorpe have revealed a possible historic small settlement dating back to Roman times, with environmental samples being processed in order to learn the full extent of findings.

For the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) team, groundworks are an essential step in the delivery of upgrades across the route. In certain areas, such work means archaeological fieldwork is necessary in order to identify, understand and safeguard heritage assets that may be affected.

With TRU upgrades being carried out in West Yorkshire, archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology North took to multiple sites on our route in between Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

Excavations at Heaton Lodge and Thornhill Lees Farm produced more commonly found, industrial post-medieval archaeology in the form of earthworks and other minor finds, with no significant remains. It was the works in Ravensthorpe, though, that uncovered some archaeological mysteries.

Following initial work, further investigation of the site was required after the discovery of a large, irregularly shaped cropmark that was thought to be of a prehistoric date.

Last April saw a geophysical survey undertaken, which suggested that this feature was most probably an Iron Age or Romano-British enclosure, with it being hexagonal in shape and including internal penannular features.

An archaeological evaluation identified that the enclosure was fairly substantial in size, and was therefore subject to a strip, map and record towards the end of the year. Despite there being limited artefactual remains; a collection of Romano-British ceramics, ceramic building materials, flint, glass and animal bones were all recovered at the site.

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snowball said:

What's the latest on when Colton to Church Fenton is going live?

What's the latest on when Clayton and Guide Bridge to Stalybridge are going live?

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61653 HTAFC said:

A spokesperson for Kirklees Council has said that following the discovery of this site, they plan to upgrade all accomodation in the Ravensthorpe area to at least an equivalent standard.

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themiller said:

Is there any update on the first part of this post, ie is Colton Junction to Church Fenton live yet? If not is there a date?

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Work began on the York to Church Fenton improvement scheme in October 2019, and delivered:

• 17 kilometres of new, more reliable track, ready to run faster trains
• An innovative 65-metre-wide under-track crossing
• 270 new steel masts, which carry the overhead electric wires

Between July and November 2022, engineers worked almost 9,000 hours to install a total of 37 miles of overhead wire along this four-track stretch of line, together with an additional 9 miles of earth wires. Work was carried out overnight at weekends to cause as little disruption to passengers as possible.

When the new wires are energised in early 2024, they will allow more environmentally friendly electric and hybrid trains to run along this section at speeds of up to 125mph – that’s 30mph faster than they currently run.

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3RDGEN said:

The TRU website page, "https://thetrupgrade.co.uk/e1-electrification/" now quotes "early 2024" which is the first time I have seen an official timescale quoted;

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themiller said:

Thanks for that. I understood that the final tie-ins at Colton Junction had to be done over the Christmas/New Year period when the ECML could be electrically isolated. I suppose that commissioning will be taking place from then until final energisation and live functional testing.

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Angle42 said:

Are there any other indication of things happening?

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td97 said:

Now that Hambleton SFC has been commissioned, the team are moving on to Ravensthorpe SFC.

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