£45.4 billion improvement plan published by Network Rail

NETWORK Rail revealed its £45.4 billion rail improvement plan on April 3, which it says will deliver a simpler, better, greener railway.

Of this, £40.6bn is in England

Wales and is funded by the

Department for Transport, while £4.8bn is for Scotland and funded by Transport Scotland.

NR chief executive Andrew Haines said: “Delivering a better railway for passengers and freight users is at the heart of our new five-year investment plan. Tackling climate change, safely improving train performance, adapting and responding to changing commuter habits, whilst managing an ageing infrastructure, requires the whole industry to rally for the benefits of all rail users.

“Whilst there are challenges and opportunities ahead, our mission is constant – we’re here to connect people and goods with where they need to be. The railway is part of the fabric of our everyday lives and has been for generations. It provides essential services to society, underpinning economic growth and our plans will support that over the next five years – a period that will mark the railway’s bi-centenary.”

The money will be spent during Control Period 7, which runs from April 1, 2024, until March 31, 2029. During that period NR will spend £19.3bn on renewals, £12.6bn on maintenance, £5.3bn on support functions (safety and standards, timetabling, HR and IT), £4.4bn on operations, and £1.8bn on a ‘risk fund’ which is a pot to be used as and when, to cope with significant unforeseen events.

Throughout the period, NR’s income will come via £29.8bn in Government grants (from the Scottish and Welsh Governments as well as Westminster), £13.8bn in track access charges and £1.7bn from commercial income.

Mr Haines said: “Train performance has been suffering and the industry must come together and make this, and tackling climate change, our main focus.

“Our role is to deliver a safe railway that people can rely on, whatever the weather, with trains that turn up and arrive at their destination on time, and where passengers have confidence they are in safe hands. This is what we must deliver daily and what we should, and will, be held to account for.”

NR said its focus on improving train performance will include reducing the impact of external factors including weather impact, fatalities, trespass and vandalism by harnessing new technology. It also aims to reduce infrastructure failures by replacing, or carrying out heavy maintenance, on more 3100 miles of track as well as over 3000 sets of points and a heavy investment in new signalling.

NR also wants to build on the capability of the workforce with investment in training and new technology to improve decision making and cross-industry working, improve timetables by removing bottlenecks, conflicts and unrealistic timings at and between stations and introduce a faster recovery from incidents so fewer trains and customers are delayed when things happen.

Mr Haines said: “Over the next five years we aim to rejoin track and train with a new structure at the heart of our railway, with a guiding mind, at arms-length, from Government. This would create a simpler railway to better respond to the needs of rail users with its constituent parts joined up with common objectives and incentives, delivering for passengers and freight users.”