Dates for £15m railway upgrade plan announced

NETWORK RAIL will invest £15m this May bank holiday to upgrade signaling in Sheffield and other parts of South Yorkshire.

The work will see the control of signals around Sheffield, Rotherham, Swinton and Mexborough moved to the state-of-the-art Rail Operating Centre (ROC) in York which already controls the signaling across large parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

The complex electrical work will take place over the bank holiday weekend of Sunday May 1 and Monday May 2, meaning some services won’t run, with buses replacing trains.

Passengers are urged to check their journey plans before they travel, with all lines set to re-open on May 3.

Rob McIntosh, route managing director for Network Rail, said: “Moving the signaling to the ROC is an important step in our £40bn Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger, better more reliable railway for passengers and means that passenger and freight services become more reliable, while also helping to bring down the cost of running the railway.

“Although there is never a good time to disrupt passengers, we know that fewer people travel over bank holidays and we deliberately avoided doing this project at Christmas to help support Meadowhall and the region’s retail economy. I thank passengers for their patience and understanding while this upgrade takes place and assure them that the long term benefit will be worth the few days of inconvenience.”

Sheffield Supertram will continue to run and serve all locations, including Sheffield and Meadowhall.