• First time Network Rail SME spending has exceeded £2.5bn in a single financial year
• In 2019-20, Network Rail spent 35.6 per cent of its expenditure with SMEs
• Network Rail ahead of government target to spend 33 per cent of expenditure with SMEs by 2022

• As lockdown eased earlier this year, trespass incidents on the railway increased 
• More than 5,000 trespass incidents recorded between June and September 2020 
• September 2020 was the worst September in five years, seeing a 17% increase on same time last year 

• Customer facing staff working in the UK experience over 400 abuse incidents every day and rising [i]
• 43% of shop workers say they have been threatened with physical violence. 1 in 5 mention the use of a knife [ii]
• 70% of front line rail staff have experienced workplace violence in the last 12 months [iii]

Almost 1,500 lifts and 300 escalators across some 500 stations around the country will soon be directly ‘live’ reporting their working condition. Passengers will be able to see which lifts and escalators are working, helping them plan their journeys through stations with real-time knowledge of the access available.

A series of witty and challenging benches by emerging architects and designers have been unveiled at some of London’s largest railway stations, following a design competition organised by the London Festival of Architecture and Network Rail.

Six current Network Rail employees and one former employee have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, published on Saturday 10 October.

• Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines, transport secretary Grant Shapps and BTP assistant chief constable Charlie Doyle commit to tackling street homelessness as first signatories of new charter

• Network Rail to work with five charity partners as part of Routes out of Homelessness initiative, including fundraising, events, additional support and pilot outreach scheme in stations

• Murals unveiled at Network Rail stations to mark the occasion ahead of World Homeless Day on Saturday 10^th October

Network Rail is working with technology startup nPlan to use Machine Learning technology across its portfolio of projects, potentially transforming the way major rail projects are delivered across Britain. Through using data from past projects to produce accurate cost and time forecasts, the partnership will deliver efficiencies in the way projects are planned and carried out, and improve service reliability for passengers by reducing the risk of overruns.