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Thursday 6 Mar 2025

25 million people set to benefit from new digital service

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National

Network Rail’s 25 million neighbours – people living within 500m of a railway line – are set to benefit from a new digital service that will let people know about upcoming railway engineering work, emergency work and get updates about current maintenance and upgrade projects in ‘real-time’. 

Spanning 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges and viaducts, and thousands of level crossings and signals and stations, the railway infrastructure touches every corner of Britain. Essential works not only impact the millions who travel by rail daily, but also our millions of lineside neighbours.

The email service - that just needs neighbours to sign-up by visiting www.networkrail.co.uk/railworknearme - will keep people up-to-date with the latest information about any works going on in their neighbourhood, especially those that might cause a disturbance, providing details in a clear, accessible and timely way.

Sarah Sanders, head of contact and community, Network Rail said: “We are working hard providing as much notice as possible about our projects, whether its general maintenance or engineering upgrades. 

“Our digital notification system is a step-change in the way we engage with our communities and neighbours as part of our vision to deliver a simpler, better, greener railway.”  

The new scheme also has the added benefit of saving the railway £1.65 per print letter – funds that instead can be reinvested elsewhere on the network. Letters will of course still be used for those not able to access on-line systems.

The rollout follows a successful pilot scheme in 2023 across a selection of projects, including the Midland Main Line upgrade and Bolton to Wigan electrification scheme, with 207,114 notifications sent to neighbours with a saving of £362,988.