TRU East Alliance awarded £160m contract for new Shipley train depot

The Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) East Alliance has been awarded a £160m contract as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade programme, to build a new train depot in Shipley, marking a major milestone in the delivery of a more modern, reliable railway across the North.

The Shipley TrainCare Centre will support the operation of Northern’s electric train fleet, helping to improve reliability and resilience for passengers while enabling future phases of the programme to be delivered.

The depot will provide a vital new facility for the storage, servicing and maintenance of trains serving the Airedale and Wharfedale lines, supporting more efficient and dependable services across the region.

The TRU East Alliance – comprising of Network Rail, VolkerRail, Murphy, Siemens Mobility and Arcadis – will deliver the project through an integrated design and build approach, bringing together the combined expertise of all partners.

VolkerRail will lead on track, signalling, overhead line equipment installation and low voltage systems. Murphy will deliver lineside civils and major civil engineering works, while Siemens Mobility will deliver the high voltage power systems, overhead line design and telecommunications infrastructure, including the first Rail Charging Converter (RCC) synchronised to the mainline network to enable the depot’s 25kV overhead line system to be supplied directly from a local 11kV electricity network connection. Arcadis is acting as principal designer for the project, supporting the safe and coordinated design for the scheme.

Work is already underway on site, with significant enabling activity completed over the past year. This has included site clearance, removal of contaminated materials and ground preparation, alongside major infrastructure works such as the diversion of an underground sewer and the construction of two large retaining walls.

This early activity demonstrates the pace of delivery across the Alliance and highlights how collaborative working is enabling complex infrastructure to be progressed efficiently, while supporting local jobs, skills and investment as the project moves forward.

James Ramsden, TRU East Alliance Director, said: “Securing this contract award marks a major milestone for the TRU East Alliance and reflects the strong, collaborative approach we’ve developed with Network Rail, Northern and the wider Enterprise.

With early works already well underway at Shipley, we’re now moving into the next phase of delivery. By bringing together the collective expertise of all Alliance partners, we’re well placed to deliver a modern, high-quality depot that will play an important role in supporting more reliable and resilient rail services across West Yorkshire.

“This project demonstrates the value of working as an integrated Alliance to deliver complex infrastructure that benefits passengers, communities and the wider rail network.”

Construction of the main depot building has commenced and will be followed by all the supporting systems and infrastructure installation works until early 2028. Construction of the facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2027 and brought into service in early 2028.

The depot will initially be used to support Northern’s electric fleet while TRU East delivers significant disruptive access to re-model infrastructure at Neville Hill in Leeds.

The Transpennine Route Upgrade is a multi-billion-pound programme that will transform journeys across the North, improving connectivity between major towns and cities including Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.