Monday the 16th of August 2021 saw the work completed on time for the project undertaken by Network Rail in central Manchester to reconstruct and strengthen railway bridges as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.

Routes between Manchester Victoria and Rochdale and also Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge have now been completely re-opened following engineering work and with some final touches taking place on Sunday the 22nd of August and Sundays throughout September and the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of October.

The work undertaken is part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, which will create a faster, more frequent and reliable service for passengers who travel between Manchester and York via Huddersfield and Leeds.  

The project to reconstruct and strengthen the bridges on Dantzic Street and Queens road has been underway since Saturday the 31st of July 2021 and also saw Bromley Street and Oldham Road Bridges strengthened and waterproofed.

The line between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge has also seen more than 3,000m of track upgraded and remodelled along with the installation of 17 brand new signals.

The renovated bridges can now carry an increased weight load, allowing more trains to run, and the track remodelling allows increased speeds for trains.

This latest achievement is a milestone in the Transpennine Route Upgrade which is a massive, multi-billion-pound project which will bring improved connectivity to the North of England.

The ongoing work which is planned for Sunday the 22nd of August, all Sundays throughout September and the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of October have been put in place to create less disruption for passengers.

All of TransPennnine Express (TPE) services will once again see diversions in place to Manchester Piccadilly with TPE services from Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool getting rail replacement buses on Sundays. 

Northern services will also see rail replacement buses in operation for services between Stalybridge and Manchester Victoria calling at Ashton-under-Lyne.

Neil Holm, Transpennine Route Upgrade Director for Network Rail, said: “We’ve made major progress across Greater Manchester on this key part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade. Our teams have worked around the clock over the past 16 days to improve journeys for passengers.

“As well as bringing more reliable services, this complex upgrade will eventually allow more trains and faster trains to run on the busy route between Manchester and York.

“We carefully planned the work to keep passengers moving during the upgrade. I want to say a big thank you to passengers for their patience while the improvements took place.”

Kathryn O’Brien, Customer Experience Director for TransPennine Express added: “These works completed as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade are the first step to improving capacity and journey times across the Pennines. We’d like to thank everyone involved in the engineering works that have taken place across the last 16 days, helping to create a more reliant and resilient railway for our customers to travel on. We’d also like to thank our customers for their patience throughout the works.”

Chris Jackson, Regional Director at Northern, said: “The Transpennine Route Upgrade is a vital part of the future of rail in the North and it’s great to see this first phase completed – paving the way for further enhancement work on this crucial business and leisure corridor.

“As an industry we have worked closely to keep disruption to a minimum, and our customers on the move, and we are all grateful for the understanding shown by those who rely on our services to get them where they need to be.

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