Under a plan announced by Network Rail and Transport Secretary and Derbyshire Dales Member of Parliament, Patrick McLoughlin, the electrification of the TransPennine and Midland Mainline rail route will resume with immediate effect
Sir Peter Hendy, the Chairman of Network Rail, has written to the Transport Secretary outlining how work on the rail routes could continue. Patrick has replied to Sir Peter asking Network Rail to resume this work immediately.
On the Transpennine, the new plan announced will deliver faster journey times and significantly more capacity between Manchester, Leeds and York. The upgrade is expected to provide capacity for six fast or semi-fast trains per hour, take up to 15 minutes off today’s journey time between Manchester and York and be complete by 2022. When the work is finished, the whole route from Liverpool to Newcastle (via Manchester, Leeds and York) will be fully electrified and journey times will be significantly reduced compared to today’s railway.
Under the new Network Rail will recommence work to electrify the Midland Mainline – the vital long-distance corridor serving the UK’s industrial heartland. Sir Peter is proposing that line speed and capacity improvement works already in hand are added to, with electrification of the line north of Bedford to Kettering and Corby by 2019 and the line North of Kettering to Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Sheffield by 2023.
Connecting up the great cities of the North is at the heart of the Conservative’s plan to build a Northern Powerhouse. The total programme of rail electrification and upgrades will completely transform the railways for passengers in the North and Midlands and help ensure that every part of Britain benefits from a growing economy.
By Patrick McLoughlin on October 05, 2015