More reliable journeys are promised on the Hope Valley line between Manchester and Sheffield after a £150 million upgrade was completed in early April.
Over the last three years, the existing platform at Dore & Totley station on the south side of Sheffield has been extended to cope with six-coach trains. Meanwhile the second platform has been rebuilt and commissioned (after it was removed in the 1980s), two mechanical signal boxes have been abolished and a new one-kilometre freight loop laid in the Peak District. At Hathersage, a pedestrian crossing has also been removed and replaced with a footbridge.
Replacing two tracks through Dore & Totley removes a single-track bottleneck that often saw Sheffield to Manchester express services held up by slower stopping services and cement trains destined for Earles Sidings. A nine-day shutdown of the route in March was needed to finish the work.
The new platform sits between the Midland Main Line and the Hope Valley line, so can only be reached via the new footbridge or lifts. As well as the usual ‘blister paving’ slabs marking the edge of the platform, other tactile paving has been laid to help people with visual impairments find their way around the station.
Rail Minister Huw Merriman was joined by Network Rail officials and representatives from train operators on the new platform at Dore & Totley on Monday 8 April. Speaking at the event, he said: “It’s fantastic to see a new platform and fully accessible station. The Friends of the station have helped with the design. It will lead to greater resilience for those who use the line.”
Neil Holm, Managing Director of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, said: “The completion of the Hope Valley Rail Upgrade is a great step for train travel in the North. Passengers between Manchester and Sheffield can enjoy a much improved railway.”
The station is used by around 200,000 people every year and is a calling point for Northern, Trans Pennine and East Midlands Trains.
While broadly welcoming the investment, the chair of the Friends of the station, Chris Morgan, who also chairs the Hope Valley Railway Users Group, said more stopping trains were needed. “We’ve gone through two years of mayhem at the station and get nothing extra back apart from perhaps better punctuality of the existing train service.”
Read more about this line upgrade in an upcoming issue of RAIL.
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