TransPennine Express (TPE) passengers travelling from Manchester face a run of weekend closures, overnight bus replacements and a Christmas shutdown over the next three months, as work on the Transpennine Route Upgrade continues. The longest closure starts on 27 December, when no trains will run between Stalybridge and Huddersfield until the end of January.

Secret Manchester reported the timetable of works, which is published on TPE's planned engineering work page and on National Rail Enquiries.

Weekend of 7 and 8 November: TPE trains between Manchester and Sheffield will be diverted via Stalybridge, Huddersfield and Wakefield Kirkgate and will not call at Stockport. There will be no TPE trains between Liverpool Lime Street and Warrington Central, with replacement buses running between the two. TPE advises passengers to or from Stockport to use other train operators.

Overnight, 9 to 13 November: engineering work between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly closes some lines overnight. Several late-night and early-morning TPE trains will start or end at Manchester Victoria or Piccadilly instead of the Airport, and replacement buses will run between the Airport and Victoria via Piccadilly.

Weekend of 14 and 15 November: work between Stalybridge, Huddersfield and Mirfield, and between Leeds and York, means TPE services between Manchester Victoria and Dewsbury will be diverted via Brighouse, with replacement buses between Stalybridge and Huddersfield and between Huddersfield and Brighouse.

Sunday 6 December: no TPE trains will run between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly. Glasgow and Edinburgh services will terminate at Piccadilly, Redcar Central services will terminate at Victoria, and buses will link Victoria, Piccadilly and the Airport.

Sundays 13 and 20 December: some services between Manchester and Dewsbury will be diverted via Brighouse, and the Manchester Piccadilly to York via Castleford service will be split into Piccadilly to Stalybridge and Wakefield Kirkgate to York.

Christmas: TPE services will finish earlier than usual on Christmas Eve, Thursday 24 December. No trains will run on Christmas Day or on Saturday 26 December, and services will start later than usual on Sunday 27 December.

27 December to the end of January: all lines between Marsden and Mirfield will be closed. National Rail says no trains will run between Stalybridge and Huddersfield, Brighouse or Wakefield Kirkgate, and TPE trains will not call at Huddersfield but will stop at Brighouse instead. Trains between Manchester Victoria and Redcar Central will also call at Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge. Replacement buses will run between Stalybridge, Brighouse, Huddersfield and Wakefield Kirkgate, and on weekdays also between Manchester Airport and Huddersfield and between Marsden and Brighouse. National Rail lists the closure as ending on Saturday 30 January, while TPE's page gives Sunday 31 January.

The Transpennine Route Upgrade is a Network Rail programme to electrify and upgrade the railway between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York. TPE describes it as a multi-billion-pound programme of improvements in the North.

Plans can change, and TPE says full details of some later changes will be published nearer the time. Passengers are advised to check their journey with TPE or National Rail Enquiries before travelling and to allow extra time on replacement buses, which National Rail warns may be busier than usual.

Sources: TransPennine Express, planned engineering work; National Rail Enquiries, Transpennine Route Upgrade Huddersfield closure; National Rail Enquiries, TransPennine Express bank holiday information; Secret Manchester. This article was produced with the help of AI tools and checked by an editor against the sources above.