£150m Hope Valley Railway upgrade completes
Journeys between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield should be speedier and more reliable, with two notorious bottlenecks removed and an additional platform installed at Dore & Totley station.
Carlisle-based Story Contracting and Doncaster-headquartered Volker Rail delivered the £150m Hope Valley Railway upgrade for Network Rail through a joint venture – StoryVolker. The project, which began in spring 2021, has take three years to complete.
In addition to introducing a second, accessible platform at Dore & Tortley station, the upgrade’s to-do list has included a series of signalling improvements, an overbridge at Hathersage West, an additional track south of Dore & Tortley station, and a .62-mile railway loop between Bamford and Hathersage.
The railway loop and the additional track are meant to tackle two bottlenecks on the train line, allowing faster trains to overtake slower ones.
Dore & Tortley’s first platform also received an extension, enabling it to cater to six-carriage trains.
James Goldsby, project director from VolkerRailStory, described the completion of the project as “an amazing achievement”.
“The work undertaken will now remove several bottlenecks for train operating companies between Manchester and Sheffield, providing passengers with a much improved service,” Goldsby continued.
Rail minister Huw Merriman stopped by Sheffield on Monday to celebrate the finishing of the programme of works.
“I am delighted to be in Sheffield today to mark the completion of the Hope Valley Railway Upgrade – another project delivered which demonstrates our continued commitment to improving transport in the North of England,” Merriman said.
He added later: “The upgrade is just one of hundreds we’re delivering, with more to come as part of our Network North plan made possible by reallocated HS2 funding – carrying out even further upgrades on this vital line, including electrification, to cut journey times, and improve capacity for thousands of passengers.”
“Possible by reallocated HS2 funding” – who is he kidding, this was approved months or years before HS2 was cancelled. But who cares about the truth when you need a good quote.
By J
In fairness to the minister, he is referring to future Network North projects not the Hope Valley Railway upgrade (which, as you have pointed out, would have been a tough sell)
By Julia Hatmaker
Reallocated HS2 funding is a white elephant and should be called out whenever it is mentioned. HS2 was to be funded through borrowing against future ticket receipts – no ticket receipts = no funding to be ‘reallocated’.
By Anonymous
It has taken a while to get this scheme built – it won’t change the world (see HS2) but very welcome just the same.
By WayFay
Planning for this scheme had already begun by 1999 with Railtrack proposing completion in 2003-4. They ran out of money in 2002. It’s been replanned several times since then and got bigger so the real cost over 25 years will have been rather more than the figures quoted today.
By Dore & Totley
Journeys between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield should be speedier and more reliable……… Come back and report when it actually IS
By Drew
Was not working well on Sunday, we stopped three times because the York signaller let out a freight train in front of us. Could have waited or stored the freight train in the new siding.
So, maybe a waste of £150,000,000 !
By Kevin
When are we to expect the electrification of the Hope Valley line Mr Merriman or are you spinning yet another Tory lie ?
By Brian M
The claim ““The upgrade is just one of hundreds we’re delivering, with more to come as part of our Network North plan made possible by reallocated HS2 funding” just shows how dishonest the government is. This money was provided before HS2 was cancelled. Unbelievable!
No, this wasn’t provided by funds released by HS2 being cancelled and none of this helps what HS2 would have, by freeing up all the congested existing lines to be used for high frequency, reliable local and regional rail
By EOD