List of proposed railway electrification routes in Great Britain
This article lists proposed railway electrification routes in Great Britain. Background. Railway electrification in the UK has been a stop-start or boom-bust cycle since electrification began. There was a flurry of activity in the 1980s and early 1990s but this came to a halt in the run up to privatization and then continued in the 2000s, and also the Great Recession intervened. In 2009 Lord Adonis was appointed Secretary of State for Transport and, after a gap of more than a decade, electrification of the UK rail network was  back on the agenda with Adonis announcing plans to electrify the Great Western Main Line from London as far as Swansea, as well as infill electrification schemes in the North West of England. The 2010 general election produced a coalition government that wanted to reassess spending, and so electrification was paused again. In July 2012 the UK government announced £4.2 billion of new electrification schemes, all at 25 kV AC and reconfirmed schemes previously announced by Adonis. These were to be Northern Hub, Great Western Main Line, South Wales Main Line, Midland Main Line, Electric Spine, Crossrail, Gospel Oak  to Barking Line and West Midlands suburban lines including the Cross-City Line. The Trans-Pennine route from Manchester to York and Selby via Leeds was also announced. Rail transport in Scotland is a devolved matter for the Scottish Government, but they too have pursued electrification with multiple schemes in the Central Belt. All these have been 25 kV AC, as in England and Wales. On 25 June 2015 the government announced that some of the electrification projects would be delayed or cut back because of rising costs. Electrification work was to be "paused" on the Trans-Pennine route between  York and Manchester and on the Midland main line between Bedford and Sheffield. Electrification of the Great Western main line would go ahead but the status of the Reading-Newbury and Didcot-Oxford sections was unclear. However, in September 2015, the electrification work was "un-paused", but with a delayed completion date. Since then there have been updates including one published in October 2016. On 20 July 2017 Chris Grayling the Secretary of State for Transport cancelled a number of electrification projects citing disruptive works and use of bi-mode technology as an alternative. Electrification has had much controversy with  cancellations and various appearances of the Secretary of State for Transport called before the Transport Select Committee. The Transport Select Committee published its report into various matters including regional investment disparity on the railways and calling again for the reinstatement of various cancelled electrification schemes. A written question was submitted and answered in parliament regarding route miles electrified in the years 1997-2019. In March 2019 the Railway Industry Association published a paper on Electrification cost challenge suggesting ways forward and a rolling programme of electrification. In September 2020 the TDNS (Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy) Interim Business case was published  though it was dated July 31, 2020. The principal recommendation was further electrification of 13000 STKs - single track kilometres of UK railways. As of November 2020, there are very few confirmed schemes. List of routes. Northern Hub. As part of the Northern Hub project, the following lines in North West England and Yorkshire were to have been electrified: In December 2013 it was announced that the branch from to would be electrified by 2017. However, the enhancements delivery plan update of September 2016 moved the completion date with only GRIP Stage 3 (Option selection) being completed by then. On 1  September 2021, the Department for Transport formally announced this would now go ahead. Crossrail. This route will serve as a new cross-London main line, and it was originally due to open in December 2018. However, opening has been delayed until the first half of 2022. 2020 onwards. Under Transport Secretary Chris Grayling many of the proposed electrification projects were cancelled, despite pledging to remove full diesel trains by 2040. However after being sacked in 2019, and replaced by Grant Shapps many of the cancelled electrification schemes are being reconsidered. The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (IRP ) confirmed this. Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge. As of March 2021 major work as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade is in progress, that includes preparation for electrification. Bolton to Wigan. It was announced in December 2013 that to would be electrified by 2017. Finally, on 1 September 2021, the go ahead was formally announced. Starting in December 2021, Wigan to Bolton work is in progress with "boots on the ground". York to Church Fenton. Work to extend the wires from Colton Junction to Church Fenton began in December 2020. Preliminary work includes track and signalling to enable line speed improvements  prior to the installation of overhead gantries and wires in 2022 ready for an October 2022 completion. The extension will allow bi-mode trains to use electric traction through this section. As of March 2022, there has been no announcement on electrification between Leeds and Church Fenton. Stalybridge to Leeds. The section between Huddersfield to Dewsbury had the TWAO applied for on March 31, 2021. Leeds to Selby, Hull and Sheffield. Now the electrification scheme could be back on the agenda after transport secretary Grant Shapps confirmed plans to spend nearly £600m on work to upgrade and electrify  the TransPennine main line. Leeds to Bradford Interchange via New Pudsey. As part of the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands the line between Leeds and Bradford Interchange via New Pudsey is being electrified. Scotland Rolling programme. On 28 July 2020, Scottish Transport Secretary Michael Matheson announced plans to phase out fossil fuel use on the railway network by 2035. The plan would see most lines electrified, but suggests that intermittent electrification in difficult places may be implemented. Alternative traction will be implemented rather than electrification for some lightly-used lines. These are the Far North Line, Kyle  of Lochalsh Line, West Highland Line, and the southern portion of the Stranraer Line. Other Scottish political parties including the Green Party support a rolling programme and indeed want it accelerating. Transport Scotland has also published a list prioritising the projects and divided them into the categories of 1) in delivery, 2) in development, 3) under active consideration. In early 2021 a start was made on the electrification scheme to East Kilbride. Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy. In September 2020 the TDNS (Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy) Interim Business case was published though it was dated July 31, 2020. The principal recommendation  was further electrification of 13000 STKs - single track kilometres of UK railways. List of routes now complete in 2010 onwards timeframe. Northern Hub. As part of the Northern Hub project, the following lines in North West England and Yorkshire have been electrified: West Midlands suburban lines. Extensions to the existing West Midlands suburban electrification: Scotland. Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP). 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 are now (2020) 4 different electrified routes between the two cities with assorted diversionary routes. 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. It was actually completed in December 2017. The infills included the route from Cumbernauld and Falkirk Grahamston to Larbert, Alloa, Dunblane and Stirling. List of proposed railway