BRITAIN’s secretary of state for transport, Heidi Alexander, has announced the infrastructure projects that are to receive funding following the government’s Spending Review last month, which included £10.2bn for rail enhancements.

Of the ongoing projects within the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline (RNEP), the Spending Review confirmed £3.5bn for the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) between Manchester and Leeds. It also provided £2.5bn for the East West Rail (EWR) project, combining upgrades and new construction to once again connect Oxford and Cambridge by rail.

Funding has also been confirmed to progress the next stage of the Midlands Rail Hub project centred on Birmingham, which includes the construction of new stations and reopening freight lines to passenger services.

In the East Midlands, the Kettering - Wigston section of the Midland Main Line (MML) electrification programme will be completed.

The Spending Review confirmed £445m for projects in Wales, including funding to take forward the modernisation of Cardiff Central station, upgrading the South Wales Relief Lines and increasing capacity at Cardiff West Junction.

Work will continue to increase capacity and improve service in the Leeds area of West Yorkshire. Ahead of the completion of the TRU project, capacity at Leeds station will be increased by extending Platform 14, adding a new pedestrian bridge between the platforms and building a new southern entrance.

Projects to increase capacity will also continue in the Greater Manchester area, including work at Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly stations and a third platform at Salford Crescent. DfT says that track and signalling will be remodelled to improve reliability and accommodate longer trains.

Investment will continue to upgrade the traction power supply system on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), enabling the introduction of more electric passenger and freight services.

On the East Coast Main Line (ECML), investment will continue to increase capacity for long-services and support the deployment of electric trains. London North Eastern Railway (LNER) will introduce additional services from London to Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh with the December 2025 timetable change.

New stations

The government is providing an additional £27m for the project being taken forward by the West of England Combined Authority and North East Somerset Council to reopen the Bristol - Portishead line to passenger traffic, introducing an hourly service that would connect an additional 50,000 people to the rail network and support significant housing development.

Elsewhere in southwest England, new stations have been approved on the Bristol - Exeter main line at Wellington in Somerset and at Cullompton in Devon, while in North Yorkshire, Haxby station on the York - Scarborough line will be reopened. Funding has also been provided for completing the new Cambridge South station which is currently under construction.

Projects on hold

Three major projects have not been allocated funding under the Spending Review and remain “under consideration,” according to DfT. These include increasing capacity in the York area, which has been paused until the wider strategy for the ECML and Northern Powerhouse Rail can be developed further.

The fifth and final phase of the South West Rail Resilience Programme (SWRRP) to improve sea defences at Dawlish in Devon has been put on hold. DfT says that it has already invested significantly in securing the cliffs and improving resilience here, and needs to focus investment on other projects around the country.

Also being paused is the RNEP project to extend electrification to Nottingham and Sheffield under Phase 3 of the MML programme. Given the existing rolling stock in use on these lines and the cost and timescale of electrification work, DfT says is it focusing investment on other projects, keeping the potential for full MML electrification under review as funding becomes available in the future.

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