Land Referencing Services - Government pledges almost £4bn for Transpennine Route Upgrade

The Government has pledged £3.9bn to accelerate the Transpennine Route Upgrade in the North of the country.

Railways between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York will be given almost £4billion to bring faster and more frequent journeys.

In addition, the Government has already invested £3bn into the Transpennine Route Upgade project.

Doubling

The funding will be invested in doubling the number of tracks from two to four between Huddersfield and Ravensthorpe. Consequently, this will allow faster trains to overtake slower stopping services and freight trains.

The news comes following the announced axing of HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to reallocate the money to other transport schemes. In addition, this includes the Network North project, aiming to join up northern cities by rail and a Midlands Rail Hub to connect 50 stations.

Connectivity

Rail Minister Huw Merriman said: "The Transpennine Route Upgrade represents the first major step in delivering transformed east-west connectivity in the north and I'm delighted to announce this multibillion-pound funding boost to move to the next stage of delivery.

"Today's announcement demonstrates this government's commitment to delivering its Network North plan which will improve journeys, help to level up regions and grow the economy."

It is expected that the project will be completed in the mid-2030s, by which point there will be up to eight trains an hour. As well as this, benefits will include hundreds of extra seats and journey times decreased.

Rail Minister Huw Merriman said:

“The Transpennine Route Upgrade represents the first major step in delivering transformed east-west connectivity in the north and I'm delighted to announce this multibillion-pound funding boost to move to the next stage of delivery.

“Today's announcement demonstrates this government's commitment to delivering its Network North plan which will improve journeys, help to level up regions and grow the economy.”