Northern England W12 Upgrades Pipeline

[Legolash2o]

Previously, I posted about Loading Gauge upgrades associated with the Transpennine Route Upgrade (here), which came via an FOI request.

Within the FOI they mentioned a separate W12 upgrade project. The response from that FOI indicated the results below, but please take these with a pinch of salt as the routes are still in the design phase.

EDIT: An estimated timeline for these to be completed is December 2033.

Transpennine Route Upgrade

LOR	ELR	From	To
LN854	NOC	Colton Jn	Church Fenton
LN902	CFM	Church Fenton	Micklefield
LN898	HUL3/4	Micklefield	Leeds

W12 Upgrade Project

LOR	ELR	From	To
LN854	NOC	Church Fenton	Altofts Jn
LN804	MGW	Gasgoigne Wood	Milford Jn
LN874	MEW2	Whitwood Jn	Methley Jn
LN898	HUL1	Selby	Hull Port
NW6005	MVE1	Manchester Victoria	Deal Street Jn
NW5015 NW5021	SAJ HAJ	Stalybridge	Ardwick Jn
LN842 LN846	CJS	Adwick Jn	Applehurst Jn
LN804 LN854	NOC SMJ2	Pontefract East Jn	Sherburn Jn
NW2015	DSE	Newton-le-Willows	Tuebrook Sidings
NW2027	SCT1	Tuebrook Sidings	Port of Liverpool
LN882 LN854	MVN2 WAG1	Thornhill LNW Jn	Calder Bridge Jn

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I love the information but a better thread title might be appropriate. Transpennine route upgrade is usually considered Manchester to York. There is way more here. Possibly North of England W12 upgrades?

 

[Legolash2o]

I love the information but a better thread title might be appropriate. Transpennine route upgrade is usually considered Manchester to York. There is way more here. Possibly North of England W12 upgrades?

I agree. I've changed the title to something more appropriate.

I'm hoping they add in additional routes such as the Calder route (via Todmorden/Rochdale) to give an option to divert freight around the main corridor avoiding Huddersfield.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Looks like a plan for a W12 route from Liverpool Port to Hull Port, using the TRU route over the Pennines as far as Ravensthorpe (Thornhill LNW Jn).
What isn't clear is the route from Thornhill eastwards, as Altofts Jn-Castleford-Church Fenton is apparently not in the W12 project - maybe it is already cleared?
Either way, the W12 route will not be electrified east of Thornhill.

 

[zwk500]

I agree. I've changed the title to something more appropriate.

I'm hoping they add in additional routes such as the Calder route (via Todmorden/Rochdale) to give an option to divert freight around the main corridor avoiding Huddersfield.

The case for intervening purely for freight is sketchy enough on it's own, I'd be very surprised if there was room to include a diversionary route.
If the freight enhancement was related to releasing passenger capacity/speeding up passenger journeys, then the case becomes a lot better.

TLDR - The only way I can see Calder Valley getting cleared for W12 is if it gets electrified for passengers (which, IMO, it should).

Looks like a plan for a W12 route from Liverpool Port to Hull Port, using the TRU route over the Pennines as far as Ravensthorpe (Thornhill LNW Jn).
What isn't clear is the route from Thornhill eastwards, as Altofts Jn-Castleford-Church Fenton is apparently not in the W12 project - maybe it is already cleared?
Either way, the W12 route will not be electrified east of Thornhill.

I suspect it's more a plan for a W12 route from Liverpool to West Yorkshire and a route from Manchester to Hull/Immingham that happens to overlap, there is unlikely to be much container transhipping from port to port in the UK. Liverpool is a reaonably big player in the UK (1.7m TEU/yr in 2023) container market but Grimsby/Immingham and Hull combined are less than 500,000 TEU per year.

Here's a screenshot of PORT0301.

 

[Legolash2o]

I think you're right and I also don't see that there would be much on the Hull port side, but there is the planned Logistics Hub at Gascoigne Wood that's going to be built, so it would open up more container opportunities for them. I am, admittedly, a believer of "build it and they will come" when it comes to national infrastructure (road, rail, broadband, etc) - but not always.

It also depends on what interventions are required. Back in early 2019, I did a FOI request about what interventions are required for the Hull to Selby line to be W10/12 (screenshot below in case you're curious). It was:

• Move a few signals (been re-signalling since)
• Coper Relocation at Ferriby and Howden
• Track Slew at a few stations
• Moving a sign

Doubtfully, but I hope, it's similar solutions for the other routes. My fear is that rail typically decide to throw everything and the kitchen sink into projects. A simple gauge project that requires a few tweaks here or there can quickly turn into massive projects with line speed increases, level crossing closures, platform extensions, additional loops, and other upgrades - costing a huge fortune.

It's worth noting that they do use new gauging techniques since the original request that makes it less restrictive.

P.S. Looking at the Liverpool statistics is bringing back a lot of nostalgia when I had to work with that data!

Looks like a plan for a W12 route from Liverpool Port to Hull Port, using the TRU route over the Pennines as far as Ravensthorpe (Thornhill LNW Jn).
What isn't clear is the route from Thornhill eastwards, as Altofts Jn-Castleford-Church Fenton is apparently not in the W12 project - maybe it is already cleared?
Either way, the W12 route will not be electrified east of Thornhill.

I'll do a screenshot showing the existing W12 capability in the region and highlight on it the routes from the list above. Hopefully that helps.

 

[zwk500]

Doubtfully, but I hope, it's similar solutions for the other routes.

It will depend on the route.

My fear is that rail typically decide to throw everything and the kitchen sink into projects.

Working professionally with rail projects, the opposite is more likely to be the case. The budgets are under extreme pressure, you have to work hard to demonstrate any change is more cost-efficient (note this does not always mean cheaper). Ultimately, any change on the railway involves a lot of knock-on effects and there's not really such thing as a 'simple' project.

A simple gauge project that requires a few tweaks here or there can quickly turn into massive projects with line speed increases, level crossing closures, platform extensions, additional loops, and other upgrades - costing a huge fortune.

Be careful to keep the distinction between a programme of connected projects, one project that grows very big, and multiple separate projects in the same area co-ordinating for various efficiencies.

 

[Rail Ranger]

"Coper Realignment" presumably means the realignment of platform edge coping stones.

 

[hwl]

Previously, I posted about Loading Gauge upgrades associated with the Transpennine Route Upgrade (here), which came via an FOI request.

Within the FOI they mentioned a separate W12 upgrade project. The response from that FOI indicated the results below, but please take these with a pinch of salt as the routes are still in the design phase.

EDIT: An estimated timeline for these to be completed is December 2033.

Transpennine Route Upgrade

LOR	ELR	From	To
LN854	NOC	Colton Jn	Church Fenton
LN902	CFM	Church Fenton	Micklefield
LN898	HUL3/4	Micklefield	Leeds

W12 Upgrade Project

LOR	ELR	From	To
LN854	NOC	Church Fenton	Altofts Jn
LN804	MGW	Gasgoigne Wood	Milford Jn
LN874	MEW2	Whitwood Jn	Methley Jn
LN898	HUL1	Selby	Hull Port
NW6005	MVE1	Manchester Victoria	Deal Street Jn
NW5015 NW5021	SAJ HAJ	Stalybridge	Ardwick Jn
LN842 LN846	CJS	Adwick Jn	Applehurst Jn
LN804 LN854	NOC SMJ2	Pontefract East Jn	Sherburn Jn
NW2015	DSE	Newton-le-Willows	Tuebrook Sidings
NW2027	SCT1	Tuebrook Sidings	Port of Liverpool
LN882 LN854	MVN2 WAG1	Thornhill LNW Jn	Calder Bridge Jn

I fear there is some wishful extrapolation from your reading of the FOI response, the key text in the FOI responses before the table is this:
"The below table provides further info on whether the named section is part of this TRU W12 gauge project or not."

LOR	ELR	From	To	Is it Within TRU?	Part of W12 Project?
LN854	NOC	Colton Junction	Church Fenton	Yes	Yes
LN854	NOC	Church Fenton	Altofts Junction	No	No
LN874	MEW2	Whitwood Junction	Methley Junction	Yes	No
LN902	CFM	Church Fenton	Micklefield	Yes	No
LN804	MGW	Gasgoigne Wood	Milford Junction	No	Yes
LN898	HUL3/4	Micklefield	Leeds	Yes	No
LN898	HUL1	Hull	Selby	No	Yes

TRU upgrades don't necessarily include clearing to W12 by default unless explicitly stated, the core passenger route upgrade section where W12 are stated aims are:
1. Manchester Victoria - Ravensthorpe "The TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU) Programme’s Freight requirement is to provide W12 gauge clearance between Manchester Victoria to Ravensthorpe only. In addition, the Freight Benefits realisation project is looking to achieve W12 gauge clearance outside the TRU programme extents, to compliment the gauge clearance work between Manchester Victoria and Ravensthorpe."
2. Colton Jn - Church Fenton (1st row of the table above and the first row of your TRU table)

Ravensthorpe - Leeds and Leeds - Colton Jn aren't included because the intention is route freight away from Leeds station. (Hint: Don't bother following up on this bit in any future FoI)
The main addition needing W12 to make Man Vic to Ravensthorpe usable is Thornhill LNW Jn to Calder Bridge and Turners Lane Junctions in Wakefield via Healey Mills (the last row of you W12 Project table). This is they key part of the separate W12 project but you didn't ask about it!!! This provides Doncaster, Sheffield and Immingham area W12 routing to / from WCML via Manchester Victoria and with a short section of W10 it is otherwise W12 to Liverpool Docks

Selby - Hull doesn't need to much work to get to W12 (i.e. pretty cheap) and it connects Hull to the ECML North and Southbound but doesn't do anything for W12 on the East West Axis across the Pennines to/from Hull.

That just leaves some gaps between Wakefield Euro Terminal (your use of Altofts Jn may have caused some confusion as W12 has to go beyond to get into Euroterminal) / Methley Jn (only useful for Leeds Freightliner terminal from the North or Hull); both are already W12 accessible from the Doncaster / Sheffield / Immingham directions and Church Fenton.
Sherburn - Colton should be another section but Euroterminal / Methley Jn - Sherburn looks to have few expensive problems (bridges and tunnels) compared other sections.
(Methley Jn -Whitacre has no overhead structures so should be to bad but is pointless unless north of Whitacre Jn is done which will be expensive.)

Whitwood Junction to Methley Junction is "included in the TRU" as it got some TLC to serves as a passenger diversionary route when the normal route through Neville Hill is closed.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

"Coper Realignment" presumably means the realignment of platform edge coping stones.

That is my understanding - yes.