Transpennine Route Upgrade: East of England Upgrade

The brief: To improve rail links in the North of England, helping to make services safer, cleaner, and more comfortable for passengers.

The client: The Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) East of Leeds Alliance was appointed by Network Rail in 2014. The alliance comprises VolkerFitzpatrick Rail Ltd, Siemens plc, and J Murphy and Sons Ltd.

The approach: This ambitious rail improvement programme in the North of England required specialist, hands-on support with risk and opportunity management.

Working as part of the project team, Equib’s consultants deliver staff training and take responsibility for reporting internally and externally.

The upgrade planned for the East of Leeds route will allow people to travel faster, more reliably and in greater comfort between York and Leeds, then onwards to Manchester and other great cities of the North.

Equib has produced a Risk and Opportunity Management Plan to support the Alliance in achieving a successful, on-time, and on-budget completion. This process involves identifying, assessing, and mitigating project risks and opportunities, running training and awareness workshops and maintaining an up-to-date risk and opportunity register. In addition to completing a detailed quantitative risk analysis, the Risk and Opportunity Manager is responsible for and reporting within the project and among stakeholder groups.

The result: At various points during the programme, Equib’s consultants advise the alliance on the drawdown of contingency funds, while keeping sight of project delivery goals. The staff training has helped to raise risk understanding at all levels, supporting the delivery of successful project outcomes now and in the future.