A MAJOR rail upgrade between York and Leeds has been completed.
The Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU), which took place between Leeds and York, has been completed as part of a wider effort to deliver faster, greener and more frequent rail services across the North.
The 32-day works were concentrated around Church Fenton, where tracks were remodelled and platforms 3 and 4 re-aligned to increase line speeds and reduce journey times.
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James Richardson, TRU managing director, said: "It's great to have completed these critical railway upgrades, between Leeds and York.
"Facing all weathers, our teams worked around the clock during the Christmas period and through January, delivering a host of improvements for passengers, safely and on time.
"Our work highlights the impact we are making in transforming the railway in the North of England, helping to enable economic growth, while building future capability for major projects.
"We have had a strong start to the year, and 2026 will have even more benefits being delivered for passengers.
"We'd like to thank customers and our local communities for their understanding, as we completed this essential work."
One of the key improvements is the installation of a new passing loop at Church Fenton, allowing direct services to overtake stopping trains.
This will increase capacity and allow for more trains to run along the upgraded route.
In total, teams installed 70 new signals, renewed 3km of track, and upgraded 11 switches and crossings, and work was also carried out on overhead line equipment to support future electrified services.
Andrew Allwright, TRU programme delivery lead for Northern, said: "A significant amount of work has been completed in and around the Church Fenton area across the last month and it’s fantastic to see what has been achieved by everyone involved in delivering this latest milestone.
"We’d like to thank our customers and local communities for their patience and understanding while these upgrade works have taken place.
"We’d also like to thank all our colleagues from across the industry who’ve come together to keep customers moving while these works have progressed."
To support passengers during the upgrades, more than 1,600 train journeys were re-routed through Castleford and 1,400 rail replacement bus journeys were also provided across the 32 days.
The project required 879 rail wagons, 45 engineering trains, three large cranes and three tamping trains.
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