The UK must brace for further rail chaos amid looming Christmas strikes, as planned engineering work means passengers will see just 15 days of normal service between now and April.
Every day between Christmas and Easter there is disruption due to engineering work on the main northern routes, with the exception of just two weeks.
This includes the busiest rail line in the north of England, which had 137 million passengers in the year before the pandemic. The line runs 76 miles from Manchester to York, via Leeds and Huddersfield.
Much of the disruption will come from a Crossrail-style project in the north of England, which will deliver a fully electrified Transpennine route while also doubling the number of tracks from two to four.
Much of the disruption will be caused by a Crossrail-style project in the north of England on the Transpennine Route
The Transpennine Express rail operator is one of the most affected by the upcoming works
“This is major open-heart surgery on a patient who is running a marathon,” Rob McIntosh, Network Rail’s eastern region director, told The Sunday Times.
This is the first step in one of the biggest National Rail upgrades in decades and will seek to take the north of England to the next level by making cities more accessible to each other.
Passengers will see a three-day lockdown near Leeds on New Year’s Eve, followed by a nine-day blockade from February 4 between Huddersfield and Leeds. The most disruptive suspension will affect stations between Huddersfield and Manchester from March 11 to April 6.
Trains operated by TransPennine Express, Northern CrossCountry, Grand Central, LNER and freight carriers will be affected.
Avanti West Coast will also experience disruption in March due to upgrade works at the Carstairs junction south of Glasgow, which will close the line from 4 to 20 March.
There are also fears of further planned strike action in England by railway unions such as the RMT, led by Mick Lynch.
Strikes will take place on Christmas Eve until December 27, then again on January 3-4 and again on January 6-7.
It was announced this week that the first electrical lines had been laid for the Transpennine upgrades between Church Fenton and Colton Junction, where trains from Leeds join the East Coast Main Line to York.
According to Network Rail, this is one of the busiest stretches of track in the north, with over 100 trains a day.
Electric and hybrid trains will run up to 30 mph faster on the new lines, allowing them to reach speeds of up to 200 mph.
Misery on the M25 near Dartford on Friday as people tried to get away for the start of the Christmas holidays
A traveler walks through the concourse during a railway workers’ strike over pay and conditions, at Paddington Station in London
Mick Lynch on the picket line as more than 40,000 rail workers begin a 48-hour strike after talks this week fail to resolve a dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions
Rob McIntosh, Managing Director for the Eastern Region of Network Rail said: ‘We have reached an important milestone on our journey to bring cleaner, greener trains to the North and deliver a better railway that people can rely on.
“Our teams in York and Manchester are working together to electrify parts of the route and will eventually connect to unlock faster, more frequent services and help passengers get where they need to be on time.”
Minister for Railways Huw Merriman said: ‘Our multi-billion pound Transpennine Route upgrade will transform passenger travel across Northern England, with faster, more frequent services and improved accessibility.
“This is the first major milestone towards a fully electrified route between York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester, which will reduce journey times and save 87,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.”
In a statement on their website, a spokesman for the Transpennine Route Upgrade said: ‘When the full 70-mile route through the Pennines is completed, rail passengers will help save up to 87,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year – the equivalent to 5.9 million car journeys on the same route.
‘It also means better air quality and quieter trains for people living near the railway.’
Elsewhere, there are also engineering works planned on the Isle of Wight until April 2023 while ‘major’ projects are taking place, meaning no trains running.
Planned upgrades to the West Coast line also mean passengers will experience disruption across the country from Christmas to March.
This is particularly the case for journeys operated by Avanti West Coast trains.
It comes as further strikes this week by members of the RMT signal the start of a disrupted holiday season.
On Friday, Mick ‘The Grinch’ Lynch was accused of ruining the start of the Christmas getaway as hard-working Britons struggled to travel to the end-of-year festivities due to crippling rail strikes.
Businesses also suffered from the severe lack of attendance on ‘Black Eye Friday’ – traditionally the busiest night of the year before Christmas – as people were stuck at home as pubs, clubs and restaurants were expected to lose billions due to mass cancellations. week.
Congestion also increased in major cities as people were forced into their cars after rail services were shut down by the RMT Union for the second day in a row into January.
The RMT is coming under increasing pressure in England after it managed to strike deals with devolved governments in Scotland and Wales – but Lynch insists the UK government has offered nothing new for workers in England.