Network Rail invests £140m in Thames Valley corridor

Network Rail will be spending £140million on improvements on routes to Paddington through the Thames Valley corridor, writes Adrian Williams.

After months of poor performance, a recovery plan is in motion for the Reading-Paddington route, which made national headlines for its failings.

Broken rails and damaged electrical overhead wires near Slough, Hayes and Harlington and other stations have caused problems on the Great Western Railway and Elizabeth Line routes over the past several months - hitting Slough and surrounding sta- tions with severe delays and cancella- tions.

Investigations were launched into the reliability of the rail services in the region in November, with Network Rail concluding that its response ‘wasn’t good enough’.

In a Thames Valley Performance Improvement Plan Briefing published this month, Network Rail acknowledged that services ‘have not been good or reliable enough for passengers.’

“There has been a continued increase in total delay caused by incidents, and we are determined to address this,” the public body wrote.

The reasons it gives for failings include the pressure on the route versus the amount of time there is for repairs.

Thames Valley, and the 200 miles of track from London Paddington to Didcot Parkway, is one of the busiest rail corridors in the country.

It has seen increased growth in demand and services – there are 17 per cent more trains since 2019, says Network Rail. This has created a ‘strain on the infrastructure’.

Moreover, workers only have about two-and-a-half hours overnight where trains are not running to complete maintenance.

As such, Network Rail has ‘a re- duced amount of time’ to make neces- sary improvements. This has im- pacted the performance on the Thames Valley corridor.

A team of about 20 experts has been formed to try to tackle the problem. Work has already been done under Network Rail's new approach, with the renewal of two of the main tracks coming out of London Paddington.

The route is now set to be overhauled in three phases over 18 months.

A six-month period of work to stabilise performance is set to come soon, followed by a year-long programme to put long-term solutions in place.

Over the next four weeks, there will be fewer trains late at night and early in the morning as Network Rail is doing remedial work on the tracks, signals and overhead lines on the approach to Paddington.

Network Rail is looking to take advantage of any existing programmes of work on HS2 to get work done at the same time.

This is 'to minimise disruption' on passenger services down the line.

Any planned disruption will be communicated in advance.

Network Rail is ‘confident’ its steps will deliver the necessary improvements over time – but warns there are ‘no instant fixes’.

It is allocating nearly £140million of dedicated funds from existing budgets (no additional money from the taxpayer).

Marcus Jones, route director for Network Rail’s Western route, said:

“Train service on the Thames

Valley lines hasn’t been good enough and we’re sorry to the passengers we’ve let down.

“We’ve taken an in-depth look at the key factors of delays and have put together an accelerated performance improvement plan, working alongside industry experts, to take action and address the decline in train performance as a priority.

“Our passengers and freight partners deserve better, and while there are no instant fixes, we’re confident in our plan to deliver improvements in reliability and cut delays over time.”