Work is now underway on a major project to renew the track between York and Church Fenton as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.
The Transpennine Route Upgrade is a transformative, multi-billion pound railway programme that will improve connectivity in the North and support economic growth. It will bring faster, more frequent, more reliable services between York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester.
This phase of work will continue until Christmas 2021. It involves replacing the track on all four lines on the East Coast Main Line between York and Colton Junction, as well as both lines between Colton Junction and Church Fenton, to enable the route’s line speed to be increased to 125mph.
The work is being carried out by the Transpennine Route Upgrade East Alliance (TRU East), involving Network Rail, VolkerRail, J. Murphy & Sons and Siemens. The Alliance is delivering the infrastructure improvements on the Eastern part of the route between York and Leeds. These upgrades will deliver a high-performing, reliable railway for passengers with more trains and improved journey times.
The Alliance have carefully planned the project to keep disruption to passenger and freight services to a minimum, with the work will taking place over midweek nights.
The Alliance will soon start to prefabricate each 60ft-long section of new track at its new logistics hub at Gascoigne Wood, which will open in October. The new hub, which is just three miles from Church Fenton, includes a 400m rail head, running off the main network to allow engineering trains in and out of the facility.
