TRU blockade concludes

A 16-day blockade of the railway east of Manchester Victoria concluded on 16 August.

During the closure, Network Rail carried out work to reconstruct and strengthen bridges as part of the TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU), which aims to increase capacity and cut journey times between Manchester, Leeds and York.

The closure began on 31 July. Dantzic Street and Queens Road bridges have been rebuilt, while strengthening and waterproofing has taken place on Bromley Street and Oldham Road bridges. The rebuilt bridges can carry the increased weight of more trains, while remodelling at Miles Platting will ease a curve in the track to permit a linespeed increase. NR also upgraded over 3,000 metres of track between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge and installed 17 new signals.

Further work will take place on Sundays until the end of September and over the first weekend in October.

TRU has been divided into discrete work sections, with the Manchester to Stalybridge stretch being the most westerly. Work west of Leeds is being delivered by the TRU West Alliance, comprising Network Rail, Arup, Bam Nuttall and Amey.