York: Government cash boost to bring faster train journeys

The Government has today (Monday, December 4) pledged the amount to accelerate the Transpennine Route Upgrade between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.

Once complete in the mid-2030s, the upgrade will offer up to eight trains per hour, hundreds of extra seats and cut journey times between Manchester and York by 10 minutes, the Government said.

The Government has already invested £3 billion into the project.

York railway station (Image: Dylan Connell)

The announcement comes after the planned HS2 route between Birmingham and Manchester was axed earlier this year.

In November, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would “repurpose” the money for the proposed HS2 route to deliver mass transit in Leeds.

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.

Rail Minister Huw Merriman (Image: PA Media)

“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.”

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

The investment will also support digital signalling along the route to allow trains to run closer together, leading to more frequent and reliable services.

Neil Holm, managing director for the Transpennine Route Upgrade, said: “Transpennine Route Upgrade is well under way with building the infrastructure that bring passengers more frequent, faster, greener trains, that run on a better, cleaner and more reliable railway for generations to come.

“This commitment by the Government to our programme allows us to move two of our largest projects from design into construction and delivery.”

As The Press reported after the HS2 route between Birmingham and Manchester was axed, a new station in Haxby is included in Network North – a £36 billion plan that sets out what the Government intends to do in the wake of the scrapped railway extension.

• York will get new railway station as part of 'Network North', says Government

A new station in Haxby has been in City of York Council plans for a number of years.

The council said it was working with Network Rail and other partners to get the additional funding that would have been necessary to deliver the railway station.

This was presented to the Department for Transport in March this year.

The council had earlier said the aim, subject to the decision on full funding from government, was for the station to be built by Network Rail during 2024.