What is the TRU Upgrade?
The TRU Upgrade (Transpennine Route) is a huge multi-billion-pound programme of railway improvements which brings improvements across the transpennine route to journeys between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
The route spans over 70 miles, with 23 stations, dozens of bridges and viaducts, 6 miles of tunnels and nearly 30 level crossings and by undertaking the TRU upgrade there will be transformations that allow more passengers more often on greener trains running in a more environmentally friendly way.
With initial funding of the project set at £2.9 billion, the government announced earlier in 2022 that they have tripled the budget in order to bring a more reliable and robust rail network to between £9 billion and £11.5 billion.
The government reaffirmed their commitment to the project when on the 7th November 2024, Rachel Reeves MP (Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Louise Haigh MP (Transport Secretary) joined Mayor Andy Burnham in Manchester to see the progress being made on the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU).
The work will help to speed up journey times between major cities, including a (forecasted) 66 minute route between Manchester and York (currently 94 minutes) and 42 minutes between Manchester and Leeds (currently 55 minutes).
Here is a look at some of the key areas of the project:
Manchester to Stalybridge
Work is being completed over this 8 mile section of railway to reduce journey times and bring greener travel to the area.
Stalybridge to Huddersfield
One of the longer sections, this nearly 18 mile in length section of route is being surveyed by specialist teams to ensure as much information is gathered as possible before undertaking some major upgrade works.
Huddersfield to Leeds
Upgrades have already been completed on this section of railway to ensure more passengers are able to travel more frequently (and more reliably than ever!). With the intent to make this part of a greener network of rail, some massive improvements were made to this section of the Transpennine route including a new bridge in Huddersfield at Fieldhouse Lane.
Leeds City Station
While some upgrades have already been carried out in this station, even more plans are ready to add further improvements over the coming years as Leeds City Station has cemented its place as one of the busiest railway stations in the whole of the UK.
Leeds to York
Refreshing, renewing and upgrading the railway line has been one of the most important parts of this section of the TRU and some work has already been completed with more being added in the future.
So far, the work has include 1662m of track renewals, 250m of drainage work and 900m of cabling removed, which will allow for faster, more reliable services.
With the Transpennine Route Upgrade being used to roll out a larger amount of electric trains on our railway networks, this is not only a cleaner and more environmentally friendly way to travel but will also allow additional capacity for freight to be moved by rail more cost effectively (and quicker). This will take thousands of lorries off the roads in future and free up our road infrastructure for others.
The first of the electric services between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge operated began running in August 2024 – a huge first step for the programme’s work to fully electrify the 70-mile route – with TransPennine Express services to follow by the end of the year.
To the east of the Pennines, test trains successfully ran on the newly energised stretch of railway between York and Church Fenton in September with passenger services expected to begin by mid-2025.
Rail BI are proud to be the Business Intelligence application that powered the initial cost estimation and scenario analysis activities that helped to determine the viability of the TRU Upgrade.
For more information about this project, please visit https://thetrupgrade.co.uk/