GREAT NEWS FOR PASSENGERS: NETWORK RAIL AWARDS CONTRACT TO thelondonpaper

Tuesday 17 Oct 2006

GREAT NEWS FOR PASSENGERS: NETWORK RAIL AWARDS CONTRACT TO thelondonpaper

Region & Route:: National

Network Rail announced today that it has awarded the right to distribute a free afternoon newspaper at its London stations to News International. The company’s publication – thelondonpaper – will be available to almost one million people who pass through the stations each afternoon. Iain Coucher, Network Rail’s Deputy Chief Executive, said: “The award of this contract is great news for our passengers. It will secure another stream of revenue for Network Rail to invest in the railway. The fact that News International wants to distribute at Britain’s biggest stations is recognition of the fantastic commercial opportunities there.” thelondonpaper will be able to distribute Monday to Friday from 3pm. Over half of rail passenger journeys begin or end at one of Network Rail’s managed stations. Research shows that 76% of the footfall is in the ABC1 demographic. Associated Newspapers retains the rights to distribute the Metro at Network Rail managed stations in the morning.

Notes to editors

The stations in London are: Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Euston, Fenchurch Street, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Paddington, Victoria and Waterloo. thelondonpaper is published by NI Free Newspapers Ltd, a News International company. News International Limited is the main UK subsidiary of the global media company News Corporation. News International subsidiaries also publish The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and News of the World. Contact: Daisy Dunlop 020 7782 6019.

Contact information

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About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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