£48 million investment for Penistone Line improvements between Sheffield and Huddersfield
Following an immense effort by our local councils. community groups, and fellow members of Parliament, like Mark Eastwood and Jason McCartney, it is brilliant news that our bid to upgrade the Penistone Line has been awarded £48 million. Alongside our local work, Mark, Jason and I have held joint meetings in Westminster with the Rail Minister and have raised questions in Parliament to help get this bid over the line.
This investment offers a great chance to improve public transport links along the route, and to bring the sort of benefits to our towns and villages that are already enjoyed in other city regions across the UK.
Upgrading the Penistone Line is just one part of my wider plans for better public transport across the constituency. I've been pressing the South Yorkshire Mayor for better rural bus services, calling for more local hopper buses and putting together the case for bringing back passenger rail services on the Don Valley Line
Mega scale transport programmes grab the headlines and grab the money - but for many of my constituents it is the really local transport that matters most - improving the Penistone Line and bringing back passenger trains to the Don Valley Line are priorities for us.
The £48 million investment in the Penistone Line will see:
- Upgrades to the track and signalling, improving journey times and reliability.
- Upgrades will also be made to our stations to integrate them with local bus services.
- Users of the Penistone, Silkstone Common, Dodworth and Chapeltown stations all benefiting from the improvemens
- Delivery of important link between South and West Yorkshire, including connections to Leeds and Manchester etc.
This announcement follows recent good news about restoring passenger services on the Don Valley Line between Sheffield and Stocksbridge.
Improving public transport connectivity is one of my top priorities, so I'm pleased to be delivering major investment across all parts of my constituency through these two projects.
