RAIL passengers are being warned of a month of disruption on a major rail route in West Yorkshire as preparations for electrification take place.

Train services between Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Leeds will face weekday disruptions for five weeks, with services through Brighouse also impacted by the disruption.

The works comes as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, a multi-billion-pound rail programme aimed at improving journeys across the North of England.

The work, which includes installing foundations and supporting masts for overhead line equipment and 3km of track renewals, will take place from Monday, October 21 to Friday, November 22.

Jonathan Hepton, sponsor on the Transpennine Route Upgrade, said: "The upcoming work between Dewsbury and Leeds will impact weekday services across parts of West Yorkshire, so we’d like to remind customers to plan their journey ahead of time during these dates."

Chris Nutton, major projects and TRU director at TransPennine Express, said: "The work between Morley and Leeds will pave the way for the future electrification of a key piece of the route, while the new track and drainage renewal works will improve the reliability for years to come.

“As a result of this work, TransPennine Express won’t be able to run trains on the line through Dewsbury and Morley. To keep as many people on trains as possible, we will divert trains between Huddersfield and Leeds via Wakefield Kirkgate, increasing journey times. Rail replacement services will connect Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Leeds, and all local stations in between.

“We advise customers to check before they travel. For the people who plan to travel across the Pennines, we’ll have extra staff on hand at stations to help people get from A to B.”

In terms of the impact on services operated by Northern, the Wigan Wallgate – Leeds service will divert between Leeds and Sowerby Bridge, and will not call at Morley, Batley, Dewsbury, Mirfield and Brighouse. This service will instead call at Bradford Interchange and Halifax.

In relation to the Halifax – Leeds service, an hourly rail replacement bus service will run between Halifax and Leeds, calling at Brighouse, Mirfield, Dewsbury, Batley, and Morley. The estimated journey time is 83 minutes.

There will be a raft of changes to Transpennine Express services. One of the changes will affect the Huddersfield to Leeds (via Dewsbury) service, with an hourly rail replacement bus service running between Huddersfield and Leeds, calling only at Dewsbury. The estimated journey time is 65 minutes.

Passengers will be kept on the move via diversionary routes and rail replacement buses and are advised to check before they travel at nationalrail.co.uk.