Proposed railway electrification in Great Britain

As part of the Northern Hub project, the following lines in North West England and Yorkshire are to be electrified:

• Liverpool to Manchester Northern Route: Manchester to Newton-le-Willows completed December 2013; to Liverpool, planned by December 2014 but completed in February 2015.[8][9]
• Liverpool to Wigan: planned by December 2014 but completed in March 2015.[10]
• Manchester to Preston (via Bolton) by December 2017 and Preston to Blackpool North by May 2018.[8][11][12] An October 2017 update pushed back the completion of the Manchester - Preston section.[13] This scheme provides an electrified route from Blackpool to the West Coast Main Line at Preston and then on to Manchester diverging from the West Coast Main Line at Euxton Jct. Originally, Preston - Blackpool was to be done before Manchester - Preston, but Network Rail said Preston - Blackpool needed to have new signalling and the opportunity was also taken to completely remodel Blackpool North and Kirkham & Wesham stations and other remodelling improvements at Salwick and Poulton-le-Fylde. The scheme was to have followed with a new completion date of March 2018. Further delays ensued and a powered electric train (a Virgin Pendolino) finally carried out multiple test runs overnight on 14–15 May 2018, a few days after energisation. Similarly, in the early hours of 13 December 2018, a Virgin Pendolino ran test runs between Preston and Manchester Piccadilly shortly after energisation. The full electric service from Manchester to Blackpool North started in February 2019[14]
• Bolton to Wigan North Western As a spin-off, in December 2013 it was announced that the branch from Bolton to Wigan North Western would also be electrified by 2017.[15] However, the enhancements delivery plan update of September 2016 moved the completion date with only GRIP Stage 3 (Option selection) being completed by then.[3]
• The North TransPennine route, comprising the Huddersfield Line between Manchester Victoria and York via Huddersfield and Leeds: expected by 2022.[16]
  • As an extension of this the Hull to Selby Line was going to follow: Hull Trains planned to electrify the line between Temple Hirst Junction on the East Coast Main Line south of Selby and Hull using private finance. This moved closer to reality on 20 March 2014 when Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin confirmed in the House of Commons that he had made £2.4m available to move the project to the next stage of development, GRIP Stage 3.[17] This scheme was to have joined the already planned transpennine electrification (part of the Northern Hub project) at Selby. In November 2016 this project was shelved indefinitely.[18][19]
  • Harrogate line Harrogate to Leeds electrification proposed, but not yet agreed.[20]

• Windermere Branch Line: In August 2013, the Department for Transport announced that the branch line between Oxenholme and Windermere was to be electrified by 2016.[21] The Hendy review moved the completion of GRIP 3 to March 2017 with a yet to be determined date for completion of electrification. In July 2017 Chris Grayling the Secretary of State for Transport announced the scheme had been cancelled and bi-mode technology would be used.[4]

• The electrification of the GWML to Thingley Junction (near Chippenham) and the SWML via Bristol Parkway to Cardiff Central was due for completion in December 2018,[22][23] but was delayed to December 2019, with electric trains only beginning to run to Cardiff from January 2020. [24] Electrification from Reading to Newbury was completed in December 2018.[25][23] On 8 November 2016, Transport Minister Paul Maynard announced that several parts of the Great Western electrification project were being deferred 'until further notice': these include the line between Didcot and Oxford,[23][22] the lines to Bristol Temple Meads (both via Bristol Parkway and Bath), the line between Cardiff and Swansea ,[26][22][23] and the Henley and Marlow branch lines. On 20 July 2017, it was announced that the Cardiff-Swansea electrification project had been cancelled and that bi-mode trains would be used on the route.[27]
• As a spin-off, it was proposed that the Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes would be electrified once the main route is complete.[28]

Main article: Midland Main Line

Bridges over the Midland Main Line in Bedfordshire have been replaced to allow greater clearances for electrification and larger rolling stock. Before (top) and after (bottom) the 2014 upgrade.

• Already electrified to Bedford. This was to be extended to Corby, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield. In November 2016 only the electrification to Kettering and Corby was confirmed as continuing with the DfT refusing to be drawn on dates for the remaining parts of the original scheme.[45][46] On 20 July 2017, it was announced that the Kettering-Nottingham-Sheffield electrification project had been cancelled and that bi-mode trains would be used on the route.[24]

• However, in March 2019, it was announced by Department for Transport that the line between Kettering and Market Harborough would be electrified.[47]

Main article: Electric Spine

• Electrification of the lines from the Port of Southampton to Nuneaton, and to the Midland Main Line via the East West Rail between Oxford and Bedford. This would have involved electrifying the Coventry to Nuneaton, and Coventry to Leamington Line, part of the Chiltern Main Line, Cherwell Valley Line and Reading to Basingstoke Line; also converting part of the South Western Main Line between Basingstoke and Southampton Central from 750 V DC third rail to 25 kV AC overhead.[45] As a large portion of the spine depends on electrification of the Midland Main Line and this has been cancelled north of Kettering and defunded for East West Rail, it may be assumed this scheme has also been put on hold indefinitely.

New cross-London main line, originally due to open in December 2018. Opening has been delayed until 2021.

• Electrification of this line which is part of London Overground was announced in July 2013.[29] Major civil engineering with line closures started July 2016. Full in-service date was expected to be 30 June 2017.[3] However, design errors and the late delivery of materials and structures meant that the project was delayed. The start of electric services was to be in May 2018.[30][31]
• Delays in the electrification of the line were followed by delays in the delivery of the Class 710 electric train sets[32]. The first two trains entered service on 23 May 2019, with the full fleet entering service in August 2019.[33][34] These 4-car train sets doubled the length of the trains and passenger capacity compared to the former 2-car Diesel train sets, completing the project.[35].

Extensions to the existing West Midlands suburban electrification:

• Cross-City Line electrification to be extended from Barnt Green to Bromsgrove by 2017.[3][36] Due to delays in the project[37], electric services started in July 2018.[38]
• Chase Line electrification to be extended from Walsall to Rugeley Trent Valley by 2017.[39] There were delays in the original date,[40][41] with electric services on this line starting in May 2019.[42]

This electrification scheme and associated works has come to mean Edinburgh-Glasgow via Falkirk High and was due to be completed by December 2016. The rolling programme would then follow with the route via Shotts. The scheme via Carstairs in association with the ECML electrification was completed in the early 1990s. With other infills in the central belt of Scotland there will soon be 4 different electrified routes between the two cities with assorted diversionary routes.[43]

The December 2016 date was not met and in May 2017 a further delay to the wires going live was announced due to a safety-critical component possibly for the whole route needing to be replaced.[44]

It was actually completed in December 2017.[45]

The infills include the route from Cumbernauld and Falkirk Grahamston to Larbert, Alloa, Dunblane and Stirling.