Tag: Transpennine Route Upgrade

• Will the new station be same as the old station?

  Another day, another overblown announcement from the new-ish government – this time that a new rail station for Bradford “will improve connections, support economic growth and set the foundations for new homes, jobs and opportunities across the North”.

  The substantive announcement is that:

  the government has today confirmed a new station at Bradford Interchange

  Beyond that, it seems to be a lot of over-promising and wishful thinking. Claims that

  Bradford’s connections with some of the North’s largest cities, including Leeds, Manchester and York, will be transformed as passengers will be able to benefit from more frequent trains, improved journey times and reliability

  are undermined by the decision to rebuild an existing dead-end station, which might make the through trains that everyone agrees are needed more difficult than a new site.

  The BBC reports:

  It is understood that a decision has not yet been made on whether trains will be able to travel through the new railway station, or change direction and reverse out, as is currently the case.

  Note that the Department for Transport is using an image (below) that implies a through station.

  And what exactly has been announced? The BBC carries a comment from the (Reform) leader of Bradford Council that the funding will unlock the next stage of work, which appears to be engineering studies. Is the announcement just funding to plan a new station at some point

  in the 2030s

  as the announcement puts it?

  

  In addition:

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  2026.10.20

• Watt achievement?

  Labour, to its credit, is cracking on with the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU), filling gaps left by the Tories, but looks like it may be falling into the Tory habit of making unfunded promises when it comes to Northern Powerhouse Rail.

  A couple of weeks ago ministers and Network Rail announced that the latest stretch of the TRU, between Church Fenton and York, had been completed on time and on budget, allowing an electrified passenger train to run between the two.

  Network Rail said:

  This achievement means that 25% of the 70-mile Transpennine main line is now electrified, laying the foundations for a faster, greener and more reliable railway between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York once complete.

  It is an achievement but means that TransPennine Express will continue to run (mainly) bi-mode Nova 1 (class 802) trains along the route, running on diesel for the 75% that is not electrified, and carrying both diesel engines and electric motors, which is hardly efficient or environmentally beneficial.

  

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  2025.08.19