Work has started on the final engineering project to upgrade the Hope Valley line in the north of England. The line, which crosses the Pennines (north-south ridge chain), and connects Sheffield with Manchester, will be closed all of this week. The work also affects alternative routes, and a section of the Midland Main Line between Sheffield and Chesterfield. There are extensive diversions and amended services for freight and passenger operations.

The upgrade of the Hope Valley Line, overseen by the UK infrastructure agency Network Rail, should see a radical enhancement of capacity between two of the biggest cities in the north of England. The work affects a number of other routes in the region, and precedes a planned programme of maintenance on the UK network over the Easter weekend (at the end of this month). Freight diversions and deferments will be in place, while passengers will have the exciting adventure of rail replacement road coaches for many services.

Faster and more reliable for all traffic

The Hope Valley line is the principal connection between Sheffield on the east side of the Pennines, and Manchester to the west. The rural nature of the line belies its importance for a string of communities. The line is possibly even more vital as a freight route. It connects a number of quarry operations, and a large cement factory. All are vital to the UK construction industry. Many trains every day serve the booming London and South East market with aggregates and building materials.

Network Rail, the UK infrastructure management agency, has understandably been promoting the project as a passenger upgrade. However, the benefits are just as important for freight operations. The installation of passing loop provision (at Bamford) will make negotiating the 25 miles (40km) through rural Derbyshire and Yorkshire faster and more reliable. A better layout at the interface with the Midland Main Line at Dore, on the south east edge of Sheffield, should mean fewer delays and more freight paths for the heavy aggregates trains.

Extensive additional works

This week, the possessions on lines around Hope Valley and South Yorkshire, should allow engineers enough time to complete the capital works on the line. On the agenda are extensive commissioning works at Dore & Totley station, where a platform has been reinstated and extra track installations. Earlier in the project, engineers installed new track at the intermediate station of Grindleford. That layout is up for final commissioning this week. The most important part of the project is the comprehensive upgrade to the signalling system across the entire line. That should be completed this week too.

“The Hope Valley Railway Upgrade will remove several bottlenecks between Manchester and Sheffield to allow passenger trains to overtake slower freight trains along the line”, said a Network Rail statement. “In addition to the work taking place between Sheffield and Dore & Totley, overnight work will be taking place through Sheffield and Meadowhall [east of the city centre] affecting late night and early morning services.” Those additional works are the main reason for the ‘knock-on’ closures of a large part of the South Yorkshire rail network during this week. The last time there was anything as extensive as this was during the most certainly unplanned derailment of a cement train in Sheffield station. Network Rail will be hoping for nothing as dramatic as that, but after these works are completed, there will be more room for more trains just like it, emanating from the busy and revamped Hope Valley Line.