Transpennine Route Upgrade and Electrification updates

[Crant90045]

Theyre doing this very quickly, Might have a look next time i pass there, Thanks for the photos!

 

[Snow1964]

A new drone video of Transpennine route works at Mirfield, Deighton, and Batley area

At Mirfield the new very wide island platform looks ready for trains. There are 4 tracks, although following slews couple are cut off at the moment until adjacent section is widened.

At Batley there is framework of new station footbridge with steel frames of lift towers.

Bit further along a number of electrification masts can be seen, but not sure of location, looks like some platform extensions have been started too (but that might not have been done at Christmas)

There are also views of work on A62 bridge, where one side parapet has been installed, the other side has temporary parapet pending bridge being extended sideways once old bridge is removed.

There is also views of a further bridge, or rather a gap, that was demolished on Christmas Day at Whitaker Street

It looks like a number of drone videos of TRU works have been uploaded, eg

Boxing Day video of Whitacre Street bridge demolition

Boxing day drone shots of installation of widened bridge in the viaducts near Huddersfield

Boxing day drone views of new sidings at Hillhouses near Huddersfield

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Probably the most documented railway upgrade and electrification of all time. Really great to see and follow.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Probably the most documented railway upgrade and electrification of all time. Really great to see and follow.

What it also documents is how complicated, just put back two tracks where they used to be, actually is!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I think the new electrification masts (twin track cantilevers by the look of it) referred to in post #9992 are just west of Deighton, presumably on the south side of the line which will not be altered by the quadrupling.
5 more posts and we will have 10,000 posts on TRU!

 

[GRALISTAIR]

5 more posts and we will have 10,000 posts on TRU!

Certainly the last thing on my mind when I started the thread over a decade ago. Of course, it is not an electrification project but a total upgrade project with more than one TWAO and listed buildings etc too.

 

[Grumpy]

Correct - the new signalling will be commissioned in three stages:


Monday December 29th: Neville Hill to South Milford via Cross Gates and Micklefield

Sunday January 4th: Church Fenton to Colton Junction (up and down Normanton lines only)

Monday January 26th: Micklefield to Church Fenton and Church Fenton to Colton Junction (up and down Leeds)



MARK

I don't think this thread has any recent Church Fenton photos
The old crossing is now out of use, being replaced by the new Rose Lane bridge-




Here is a view taken from the bridge towards Micklefield-




And finally a view of works in progress South of the station-




Above taken today

 

[1D53]

Thanks for the Church Fenton pics. Good to see what is going on.

 

[Phillipimo]

Mirfield station reopened on the 27/12 with the island platforms 1 & 2 complete and the new footbridge open. The tracks through these platforms are in their final alignments, with a stretch of the new eastbound fast line now marooned after being temporarily being used by westbound fast trains.

For the time being, the tracks are arranged as they were before the start of the route upgrade project.
Some pictures can be seen in this LinkedIn post:

Mirfield Station has opened the island platform as of this morning. It was a great pleasure to see the test train come into the newly constructed platform 1. It has been a very challenging build due… | Patrick Kelly | 18 comments

Mirfield Station has opened the island platform as of this morning. It was a great pleasure to see the test train come into the newly constructed platform 1. It has been a very challenging build due to the Station being operational throughout. I like to thank all persons involved in the build...

www.linkedin.com

Mirfield Station has opened the island platform as of this morning. It was a great pleasure to see the test train come into the newly constructed platform 1.

And more pictures in this Flickr group.

Transpennine Route Upgrade (Huddersfield to Dewsbury area)

A record of how things change during the work in my area local to me between Dewsbury, Ravensthorpe, Mirfield Deighton; Huddersfield, with a few from before any changes to tracks or stations, plus the photo's from Batley & Morley.

flickr.com

 

[Mr Mean]

I had a look at the completed Mirfield station yesterday and there are ups and downs.

Ups are that the stairway and lifts are 100x better than previously there. The platforms are longer and everything is much brighter.

Downs are that the tarmac finishing on the platform is terrible and will undoubtedly lead to water/ice damage and potholes.

From previous comments, the virtual lack off meaningful shelter is a huge missed opportunity. A simple roof structure near the stairs and lifts would have had massively improved the passenger waiting environment. The station is cold, open and windswept and will be a miserable experience when waiting for trains, especially when platforms 1 and 2 are both operational and huge numbers.

Overall im disappointed with the finished product and see it as a missed opportunity.

 

[YorkshireBear]

The lack of waiting shelter space is a regular bug bear of mine. Not specific to TRU or Mirfield.

I assume from the new (old) track layout that Platform 2 will go back to not being used for the most part until completion of this section of the scheme?

 

[YorksLad12]

I had a look at the completed Mirfield station yesterday and there are ups and downs.

Ups are that the stairway and lifts are 100x better than previously there. The platforms are longer and everything is much brighter.

Downs are that the tarmac finishing on the platform is terrible and will undoubtedly lead to water/ice damage and potholes.

From previous comments, the virtual lack off meaningful shelter is a huge missed opportunity. A simple roof structure near the stairs and lifts would have had massively improved the passenger waiting environment. The station is cold, open and windswept and will be a miserable experience when waiting for trains, especially when platforms 1 and 2 are both operational and huge numbers.

Overall im disappointed with the finished product and see it as a missed opportunity.

The lack of waiting shelter space is a regular bug bear of mine. Not specific to TRU or Mirfield.

Great to see it's finally a fully accessible station, but... there's a distinct lack of imagination in modern waiting environments even when we do get shelters. Canopies are a thing of the past.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Great to see it's finally a fully accessible station, but... there's a distinct lack of imagination in modern waiting environments even when we do get shelters. Canopies are a thing of the past.

Check out the camp hill line progress thread, pineapple road at least has them. Which I was surprised to see.

 

[Snow1964]

Great to see it's finally a fully accessible station, but... there's a distinct lack of imagination in modern waiting environments even when we do get shelters. Canopies are a thing of the past.

And then they wonder why when weather is wet / snow / windy everyone is standing in same part of platform trying to get on by nearest door.

Canopies aren't just there to keep parcels and luggage dry (so some think no longer needed), they have important job of helping timekeeping by spreading passengers along the platform.

 

[hwl]

they have important job of helping timekeeping by spreading passengers along the platform.

Which unfortunately has to get (expensively) relearned by the industry every two decades or so

 

[ole17]

A new drone video of Transpennine route works at Mirfield, Deighton, and Batley area

At Mirfield the new very wide island platform looks ready for trains. There are 4 tracks, although following slews couple are cut off at the moment until adjacent section is widened.

At Batley there is framework of new station footbridge with steel frames of lift towers.

Bit further along a number of electrification masts can be seen, but not sure of location, looks like some platform extensions have been started too (but that might not have been done at Christmas)

There are also views of work on A62 bridge, where one side parapet has been installed, the other side has temporary parapet pending bridge being extended sideways once old bridge is removed.

There is also views of a further bridge, or rather a gap, that was demolished on Christmas Day at Whitaker Street

It looks like a number of drone videos of TRU works have been uploaded, eg

Boxing Day video of Whitacre Street bridge demolition

Boxing day drone shots of installation of widened bridge in the viaducts near Huddersfield

Boxing day drone views of new sidings at Hillhouses near Huddersfield

The project updates have been progressing wonderfully and quickly, can't wait for the separate fast and slow lines to come between dewsbury and huddersfield to get rid of the northern/TPE tug-of-war asap.

From the updates at deighton, the extended pilling works for the station looks to be all complete? So apart from demolishing the brick retaining wall section east of the former station, it looks like it should be all on track to getting the fast/slow lines done without too much delays

 

[swt_passenger]

I assume from the new (old) track layout that Platform 2 will go back to not being used for the most part until completion of this section of the scheme?

That’s what RTT seems to show for a typical whole day’s traffic. There are quite a few passing trains through P2 but all the station stops are booked at P1 and P3.

 

[superkev]

That’s what RTT seems to show for a typical whole day’s traffic. There are quite a few passing trains through P2 but all the station stops are at P1 and P3.

The middle track through P2 has always been used for non stopping trains to pass stoppers. As P2 cannot be reached from the Wakefield line it looks like most if not all westbound stoppers will continue to use P3 until Ravensthorpe junc and flyover is complete in a couple of years time.
K

 

[Grumpy]

Overall im disappointed with the finished product and see it as a missed opportunity.

And of course they've provided an uncovered footbridge. Good luck to users on dark winter snowy/icy nights.
They are scrimping on what should be basic facilities but can waste money adorning the station with the old BR double arrow signs.

 

[Railsecrets]

Stoped by to take a look at Mirfield today, and it was looking a little shoddy and rushed. But what’s surprising is why is there green stripes on every pole instead of the West Yorkshire Metro Red? The only thing I could suspect is it’s Weaver Network Green branding that’s been placed in, all be with dodgy painters paint still there.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Dec 2025 ==

Furthermore, heres a progress update on the Baker viaduct at Ravensthorpe. (excuse the rubbish quality of dirty class 150 windows, but removed sound to save the deafening of the 150 engines)

though it looks like panelling is going up for the under pass to the Wakefield lines,

 

[Crant90045]

in the second attached image is that display board intentionally angled like this or has it already been vandalised? seems a bit odd in both scenarios

 

[Mr Mean]

I think the term used above "shoddy and rushed" in regard to Mirfield is the perfect description.

Its such a shame as the brickwork/ stonework in the new entrance from the tunnel is really well done amd shows off some decent craftmanship, but it is let down by the bodge it and scarper appearance of the platforms where the 3 day period to complete it really shows off some poor quality workmanship in order to meet some tight timescales.

The lift was fenced off too and not working, so guess that will be a future repair/switch on.

With the upcoming cold spell it will be interesting to see how well the massive expanse of platform tarmac will be gritted and how slippery the surfaces will be.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Stopped by to take a look at Mirfield today, and it was looking a little shoddy and rushed. But what’s surprising is why is there green stripes on every pole instead of the West Yorkshire Metro Red? The only thing I could suspect is it’s Weaver Network Green branding that’s been placed in, all be with dodgy painters paint still there.

Good lord, that is a shoddy green paint job. It is crying out for some anti-sag additives in that green paint!

 

[TBY-Paul]

Just before Christmas, I saw a video which suggested that the station would open on time, but a team from TRU would be coming back in February?to do some final “snagging“ and “finishing off”, so before everyone jumps in with the criticism, let’s wait till things are finally finished.

 

[Elecman]

Good lord, that is a shoddy green paint job. It is crying out for some anti-sag additives in that green paint!

Wonder if they haven’t killed the galv off and hence the paint not sticking properly

 

[Geogregor]

Church Fenton progress:
https://x.com/theTRUpgrade/status/2005295862445133879

 

[takno]

Church Fenton progress:
https://x.com/theTRUpgrade/status/2005295862445133879

Could you let us know what it says?

 

[Freightmaster]

Could you let us know what it says?

very little!


(image shows a tweet that says "Team TRU are continuing to install OLE (overhead line electrification)
in Church Fenton)

 

[Railsecrets]

in the second attached image is that display board intentionally angled like this or has it already been vandalised? seems a bit odd in both scenarios

Hard to tell, but I’m hoping it’s drunk people that’s done that!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Dec 2025 ==

I think the term used above "shoddy and rushed" in regard to Mirfield is the perfect description.

Its such a shame as the brickwork/ stonework in the new entrance from the tunnel is really well done amd shows off some decent craftmanship, but it is let down by the bodge it and scarper appearance of the platforms where the 3 day period to complete it really shows off some poor quality workmanship in order to meet some tight timescales.

The lift was fenced off too and not working, so guess that will be a future repair/switch on.

With the upcoming cold spell it will be interesting to see how well the massive expanse of platform tarmac will be gritted and how slippery the surfaces will be.

Didn’t take a picture but the Lifts are there with its door closed. So presume it needs a few tweaks before they can open it up.

Not to mention at the time of visiting on the 29th Dec, to change from P3 to P1/2 using the new footbridge is to leave the station car park and up the old P3 steps onto the footbridge.

Which seems more pointless as walking under the underpass would be quicker than the footbridge.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Wonder if they haven’t killed the galv off and hence the paint not sticking properly

Galv should definitely be treated with an etch primer first imho.