Feasibility funding for Pennine tunnel scheme

A group wanting to build a £2bn underground tunnel linking Sheffield and Manchester through the Peak District have been handed a £500,000 boost to kickstart the project.

Trans-Pennine Connect have campaigned for years for better connectivity between the cities and have now been given a grant towards a feasibility study.

The plan is to build a new 14-mile (22km) road tunnel from Langsett near Stocksbridge to Tintwistle in Derbyshire, as well as restore the historic Woodhead railway line.

The money came from the UK Dynamism Fund, and its fund lead Andrew Bennett said: "It is one of the most ambitious schemes anywhere in the UK and it is very easy for us to support them."

Currently it can take up to two hours to drive between the two northern cities, with the train from Sheffield to Manchester Victoria taking between 50 minutes and an hour and a half.

The Trans-Pennine Connect scheme, which is a private sector initiative, would bypass the Peaks by going beneath them.

The new road tunnel would be the longest of its kind anywhere in the UK and would replace the A628 Woodhead Pass A628, which has long been regarded as one of the most problematic east-west routes across the Pennines.

Separate to the road tunnel, proposals include reopening the old Woodhead railway tunnel and line, which closed in 1981 when the electrified line between Manchester and Sheffield via Penistone shut.

National Grid owns the three tunnels, and has used them to carry power cables.

Trans-Pennine Connect has put forward the idea, led by former Department for Transport (DfT) civil servant Michal Dnes, who until 2021 worked on a government plan to tunnel under the Pennines.

The DfT scheme ground to a halt because of the expense but the campaign group has said the tunnel could be built at a much lower cost using the "drill and blast" method instead of a tunnel boring machine.

A previous government assessment estimated a tunnel could cost £12bn using conventional UK construction methods, including large tunnel boring machines.

The group is instead proposing the use of a "drill and blast" tunnelling technique commonly used in Norway.

The organisation estimates that, based on Scandinavian construction costs, the tunnel could be built for less than £2bn.

Bennett said: "We're really excited to be backing Trans-Pennine Connect with £500,000.

"Obviously this is going to cost a lot more in time and at some point it'll be ripe for infrastructure investors to come into this project, make it possible make this an asset people want to invest in."

The funding that UK Dynamism Fund has matched with Trans-Pennine Connect has come from anchor donor XTX Philanthropy.

Bennett added that not only would it mean the old railway was repurposed and reused, and Peak District nature restored, but the process would also mean a reduced cost in building future infrastructure projects for national sites with similar geology.

Dnes said it was "astonishing" that no one had built this kind of tunnel in the north since the Victorians, and it was important to start using the "drill and blast" technology.

Trans-Pennine Connect said now it must "make the stars align" and produce a workable design.

"London is listening in a way it hasn't for generations," promoters Trans-Pennine Connect said.

"Devolution is working and Number 10 in the north really helps."

South Yorkshire's Mayor, Oliver Coppard, said connections between Sheffield and Manchester "simply aren't good enough" and he had been clear that has to change.

"I've said before a tunnel has to be part of that conversation," he said.

"The proposals for a privately-financed road and rail tunnel are interesting and ambitious, and I want to understand more about what could be possible."

He said it was very dependent on the business case but he wanted to explore "every credible option" for the connections across the Pennines that South Yorkshire "needs and deserves."

However, a DfT spokesperson said previously-considered proposals for a tunnel were deemed too expensive and did not deliver value for money.

"National Highways has identified measures to strengthen safety and resilience along the A628/A616 corridor, which will be delivered over the coming years," it said.

The eventual budget would be significantly higher than £500,000.

A scheme would still have to be approved by the government and pass local planning controls and consultation processes.

Parts of the old Woodhead line now form the Trans Pennine Trail, which is used by walkers and cyclists and has businesses along the route to serve their needs.

These business owners told a public meeting in Stocksbridge that the trail's route would have to be moved to accommodate the tunnels, potentially diverting their trade.

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