Transpennine Route Upgrade – is this rail’s best kept secret?

Green Signals · Mar 24, 2026 · 28m

There’s a revolution underway on the railways in the north, and no, it’s not Northern Powerhouse Rail, but rather something that will provide the bedrock to anything that NPR may become. Its name? The Transpennine route between Manchester, Leeds and York.

We don’t hear too much about the Transpennine Route Upgrade outside of the Manchester – Leeds – York corridor although that may be because it’s on time and on budget. But it’s no less impressive for that – at £11 billion, this multiphase project will transform passenger and freight traffic across the Pennines for decades to come.

Over the…