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Transpennine Route Upgrade: 4 tracks through Cross Gates?

K

KN94

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12 Mar 2025
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33
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Stalybridge
The end-state plan is for two loops / four tracking from just West of Cross Gates station to immediately West of Garforth station.
The plan I've seen does show Cross Gates station on the two middle lines with the loops skipping the station, which would require a re-build of the station. I'm not sure whether that's just the vagueness of the map or not. Thorpe Park is the same, but as a new-build station, easier to configure around whatever is planned.
 
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RailUK Forums

Halish Railway

Halish Railway

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26 Apr 2017
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West Yorkshire / Birmingham
woody505 said:
Been to Cross Gates today More work is in progress.View attachment 181642
Click to expand...
Thank you for posting this. It does seem a bit odd that only a small part of the formation has been ballasted and track placed down in that short section, unless we’re waiting for the bridge rebuilding work of the overbridge to be done before any more ballasting and track alterations can be done.

I’ve seen it posted that the endgame, logically is to four track through Cross Gates and Thorpe Park when it opens. That work does seem to be a while off completion and the ambition as far as I know is to finish electrifying from Church Fenton to just east of Neville Hill or the Cross Gates area by Spring 2026, so how do these two goals interact? Are only two tracks going to be electrified first with the remainder of the extra two tracks put in place when Thorpe Park opens? (Akin to how the line through Roby and Huyton worked as a three track railway upon completion of electrification, with the fourth track opening at a later date).

Attached is a screenshot from one of my older videos showing the view from Huyton in 2017, with the OLE structures in place but the cantilevers and wiring for the fourth track missing and the track work only partially completed.


IMG_3112.jpeg
 
W

woody505

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6 May 2014
Messages
98
Borrowed

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Cross gates was 4 tracked a long time ago
 

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G

Grimsby town

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4 Apr 2011
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686
KN94 said:
The end-state plan is for two loops / four tracking from just West of Cross Gates station to immediately West of Garforth station.
The plan I've seen does show Cross Gates station on the two middle lines with the loops skipping the station, which would require a re-build of the station. I'm not sure whether that's just the vagueness of the map or not. Thorpe Park is the same, but as a new-build station, easier to configure around whatever is planned.
Click to expand...
It would make sense to have the slows in the centre as it would allow services to turn back without interacting with the fast lines. Thorpe Park could be used to revive the East Leeds Parkway concept if a turn back siding was provided. That'd allow for a better service from both Thorpe Park and Cross Gates.
 
F

fishwomp

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5 Jan 2020
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936
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milton keynes
Grimsby town said:
It would make sense to have the slows in the centre as it would allow services to turn back without interacting with the fast lines. Thorpe Park could be used to revive the East Leeds Parkway concept if a turn back siding was provided. That'd allow for a better service from both Thorpe Park and Cross Gates.
Click to expand...
Better to have the slows next to the platforms :)
 
G

Geep

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29 May 2015
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17
Location
Dunkeld
If you want a technical overview of what is happening in the fairly near future, see this 2024 presentation from the Permanent Way Institute:
. It deals essentially with Leeds to Church Fenton, and does not appear to include much reference to additional tracks apart from pointing to future-proofing for that.
 
M

Manutd1999

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21 Feb 2021
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UK
I wonder if the plan for 4-tracking is linked to the additional 400m of funding which was announced in April? It certainly wasn't included in some of the earlier plans
 
3

3RDGEN

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6 Mar 2023
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400
Location
Hull
Manutd1999 said:
I wonder if the plan for 4-tracking is linked to the additional 400m of funding which was announced in April? It certainly wasn't included in some of the earlier plans
Click to expand...
It wasn't clear at the time but it's since been announced the Cl185's will be fitted with ETCS and the £415m appears to be funding that and part funds future fitted of ETCS on the route. There's a few reports around but below is a link to the TPE one although it's still not that clear;

"https://mediacentre.tpexpress.co.uk...o-boost-safety-and-reliability-of-rail-travel" - "TransPennine Express (TPE) will prepare for the future of rail travel by upgrading its current fleet of Class 185 trains with the European Train Control System (ETCS)..... In March 2025, the government announced the latest funding for TRU, with an additional investment of £415m to enable further progress on the programme. This funding will also support the future installation of ETCS."
Click to expand...
I believe its not additional money just confirmed money from the long proposed £11Billion budget.
 
Monkeyhead

Monkeyhead

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21 Sep 2016
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79
They were certainly getting on with it this lunchtime, though the old bridge seemed to be putting up a decent fight! Might pop back down tomorrow afternoon to see how they're getting on

IMG_6089.JPEGIMG_6095.JPEGIMG_6097.JPEGIMG_6098.JPEG
 
Y

YorkshireBear

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23 Jul 2010
Messages
9,172
Halish Railway said:
Thank you for posting this. It does seem a bit odd that only a small part of the formation has been ballasted and track placed down in that short section, unless we’re waiting for the bridge rebuilding work of the overbridge to be done before any more ballasting and track alterations can be done.

I’ve seen it posted that the endgame, logically is to four track through Cross Gates and Thorpe Park when it opens. That work does seem to be a while off completion and the ambition as far as I know is to finish electrifying from Church Fenton to just east of Neville Hill or the Cross Gates area by Spring 2026, so how do these two goals interact? Are only two tracks going to be electrified first with the remainder of the extra two tracks put in place when Thorpe Park opens? (Akin to how the line through Roby and Huyton worked as a three track railway upon completion of electrification, with the fourth track opening at a later date).

Attached is a screenshot from one of my older videos showing the view from Huyton in 2017, with the OLE structures in place but the cantilevers and wiring for the fourth track missing and the track work only partially completed.


View attachment 181903
Click to expand...
That turnout is for installation elsewhere not the four tracking.
 
Monkeyhead

Monkeyhead

Member
Joined
21 Sep 2016
Messages
79
Went down to look last evening, seems like they are keeping the bottom part of the old structure to build the new one on. All lines up and running this morning.IMG_6106.jpegIMG_6108.jpegIMG_6111.jpegIMG_6113.jpeg
 
Q

quantinghome

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Joined
1 Jun 2013
Messages
2,457
KN94 said:
The end-state plan is for two loops / four tracking from just West of Cross Gates station to immediately West of Garforth station.
The plan I've seen does show Cross Gates station on the two middle lines with the loops skipping the station, which would require a re-build of the station. I'm not sure whether that's just the vagueness of the map or not. Thorpe Park is the same, but as a new-build station, easier to configure around whatever is planned.
Click to expand...
Thorpe Park is being designed with four-tracking in mind, but the last plan is saw had the end result as side platforms on the two outer tracks, not and island in the middle.
 
Metroman62

Metroman62

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4 Feb 2011
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Amersham
Picture yesterday
 

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