Media centre

Monday 4 Jan 2016

Better, more reliable train services as £150m Christmas Railway Upgrade Plan is successfully completed

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National

Hundreds of thousands of passengers and businesses will now be feeling the benefits of the successful completion of Network Rail's £150m Christmas Railway Upgrade Plan resulting in better, more reliable train services and improved passenger facilities.

Over 20,000 members of Network Rail's orange army worked over Christmas and New Year on over 500 projects nationwide in some atrocious weather conditions to deliver a bigger, better railway.

The Christmas and New Year investment programme saw the successful building and construction of new station facilities, longer platforms, extra tracks, new junctions and thousands of pieces of new, more reliable equipment installed.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "Network Rail and the operators have delivered essential improvements to the rail network over the Christmas period. These are crucial for providing better journeys for passengers, progressing key projects such as Crossrail and the Thameslink Programme and nearly £100m of improvements in Lincolnshire, as part of our record investment in the railways.

"I welcome the news that this has been completed on time. I would like to thank passengers for their patience, and pay tribute to the men and women who have been working in challenging weather conditions for much of the time."

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne said: "I am extremely proud of our team who have worked so hard in the planning and execution of the upgrade plan over the last year.  This planning allowed them to deliver despite the atrocious weather conditions and is a great example of what the Network Rail team can do."