
List of proposed railway electrification routes in Great Britain

Proposed railway electrification 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 came to a halt in the run up to privatization and then continued in the 2000s. However, 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 and Adonis announced 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 Great recession and a general election intervened and the incoming coalition government wanted to reassess spending and so electrification was paused.
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 are to be electrified:
In December 2013 it was announced that the branch from to would also 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.
Crossrail.
New cross-London main line, originally due to open in December 2018. Opening has been delayed until 2021.
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.
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.
York to Church Fenton.
Work to extend the wires from Colton Junction to Church Fenton began in late 2019. 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 November 2020 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.
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 for 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 principle recommendation was further electrification of 13000 STKs - single track kilometres of UK railways.
List of routes now complete in 2010 onwards timeframe.
Northern Hub.
Main article: 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.