Proposed railway electrification in Great Britain

2012 Department for Transport plans for UK rail electrification by 2019 including Northern Hub (red), Electric Spine (yellow/green), Great Western Main Line and South Wales Main Line (red) and Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes (blue).

Proposed railway electrification in Great Britain. In July 2012 the UK government announced £4.2 billion of new electrification schemes, all at 25 kV AC. These will be Northern Hub, Great Western Main Line, South Wales Main Line, Midland Main Line, Electric Spine, Crossrail, Gospel Oak to Barking Line and West Midlands suburban lines.

Existing routes

Proposed routes

Northern Hub

As part of the Northern Hub project, the following lines in North West England and Yorkshire are to be electrified:

• Liverpool to Manchester Line: Manchester to Newton-le-Willows completed December 2013; to Liverpool, planned by December 2014 but actually February 2015.^[1][2]
• Liverpool to Wigan Line, planned by December 2014 but actually March 2015.^[3]
• Manchester to Preston (via Bolton) and Preston to Blackpool North: by December 2016.^[1][4][5] - this will provide an electrified route from Blackpool to the West Coast Main Line and Blackpool and Preston to Manchester. Originally, Preston - Blackpool was to be done before Manchester - Preston, but Network Rail said Preston - Blackpool needs to have new signaling and will thus follow with a new completion date of February 2017. As a spin-off, in December 2013 it was announced that the branch from Bolton to Wigan North Western would also be electrified by 2017.^[6]
• The North TransPennine route, comprising the Huddersfield Line between Manchester Victoria and York via Huddersfield and Leeds: expected by 2022.^[7]
  • As an extension of this the Hull to Selby Line may follow: First Hull Trains' plans to electrify the line between Temple Hirst Junction on the East Coast Main Line south of Selby and Hull using private finance. This moved closer to reality on 20 Mar 2014 when Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin confirmed in the House of Commons that he had made £2.4m available to move the project to the next stage of development, GRIP Stage 3.^[8] This scheme will join the already planned transpennine electrification (part of the Northern Hub project) at Selby.
• Windermere Branch Line: In August 2013, the Department for Transport announced that the branch line between Oxenholme and Windermere is to be electrified by 2016.^[9]

Great Western Main Line and South Wales Main Line

• The GWML and SWML and associated branch lines will be electrified to Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff Central, and Swansea. Electrification will also reach Oxford and Newbury.
• As a spin-off, the Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes will be electrified at the same time.^[10]

Midland Main Line

Bridges over the Midland Main Line in Bedfordshire have been replaced to allow greater clearances for electrification and larger rolling stock. Before (top) and after (bottom) the 2014 upgrade.

• Already electrified to Bedford. This will be extended to Corby, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield.

Electric Spine

• Electrification of the lines from the Port of Southampton to Nuneaton, and to the Midland Main Line via the East West Rail Link between Oxford and Bedford. This would involve electrifying the Coventry to Nuneaton, and Coventry to Leamington Line, part of the Chiltern Main Line, Cherwell Valley Line and Reading to Basingstoke Line; also converting part of the South Western Main Line between Basingstoke and Southampton Central from 750 V DC third rail to 25 kV overhead.^[11]

Crossrail

New cross-London main line due to open 2018.

Gospel Oak to Barking Line

• Electrification announced July 2013.^[12]

West Midlands suburban lines

Extensions to the existing West Midlands suburban electrification:

• Cross-City Line electrification to be extended from Barnt Green to Bromsgrove by 2016.^[13]
• Chase Line electrification to be extended from Walsall to Rugeley Trent Valley by 2017.^[14]

Delays

On 25 June 2015 the government announced that some of the electrification projects would be delayed or cut back because of rising costs. Electrification work was to be "paused" on the Trans-Pennine route between York and Manchester and on the Midland main line between Bedford and Sheffield. Electrification of the Great Western main line would go ahead but the status of the Reading-Newbury and Didcot-Oxford sections was unclear.^[15]

However, in September 2015, the electrification work was "un-paused", but with a delayed completion date.^[16]

See also

• Network Rail Control Periods
• Timeline of future railway upgrades in Great Britain

References

1. North West Electrification, Network Rail. Accessed 16 July 2012
2. "Rail Electrification - July 2009" (PDF). p. 22.
3. Network Rail
4. "Electrification in the North". Network Rail.
5. "North-West Electrification". Network Rail.
6. "New boost for railway electrification schemes". RailNews. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
7. "Midland Main Line electrification unpaused – but delayed by years".
8. "First Hull Trains welcomes £2.4m Government pledge to electrify train lines from Hull to Selby". First Hull Trains. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
9. "DfT Unveils Lakes Electrification Plans" Railnews news article 09-08-2013; Retrieved 2014-03-13
10. "Rail electrification to Swansea and south Wales valleys welcomed". BBC News. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
11. "Electrification programme central to UK government's £9·4bn rail strategy". Railway Gazette. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
12. "Disbelief after six-year Barking to Gospel Oak Overground campaign comes to successful end, but questions still to answer". This Is Local London. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
13. "Bromsgrove Rail Station and Interchange". CENTRO. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
14. "Work is underway to electrify the Chase Line". Network Rail. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
15. "Network Rail upgrade delayed by government". BBC News. 25 June 2015.
16. "Midland Main Line electrification unpaused – but delayed by years".