The Hope Valley Railway Upgrade, a major project to improve rail travel for passengers across the Pennines, has reached several key milestones.
The project team has completed major work during recent line closures, including the construction of lift shafts for the newly built accessible footbridge at Dore & Totley station and the extension of a bridge in Bamford to facilitate the new passing loop between Bamford and Hathersage stations.
Rail Minister, Huw Merriman, said: “I’m pleased to see another milestone reached in this multi-million-pound, Government funded scheme which will transform rail travel for passengers across the Pennines.
“The delivery of this project underpins our Network North Plan – the Government’s commitment to inject unprecedented levels of investment to improve the country’s transport – and will lead to more reliable services between Sheffield and Manchester once complete next year.”
The team will complete the final stages of work - which originally began in the spring months of 2021, over the next six months including track installation, an underbridge extension, and the footbridge installation in Dore & Totley.
Track replacement work will also take place in Grindleford, along with signaling improvements across large sections of the railway line.
Graeme Whitehead, Senior Sponsor at Network Rail, said: “The Hope Valley project team have been working hard to deliver a huge amount of work in recent weeks to ensure that key elements of construction are completed on time.
“Work is progressing well, with the scheme well on its way to delivering benefits for our customers traveling via train between Manchester and Sheffield.”
The Hope Valley upgrade is designed to remove bottlenecks for both passenger trains and freight services between Manchester and Sheffield, one of the busiest routes in the north.
Chris Nutton, Major Projects Director for TransPennine Express, added: “These engineering works are a crucial step towards delivering better services across the Hope Valley route, improving the stations we serve and upgrading infrastructure to make journeys more reliable.
"While these works take place around Christmas and early next year, there will be changes to TransPennine Express services.”
Photo Credit: Network Rail
Video Credit: Story Contracting
