Monday 23 Jun 2008
MEETING THE CAPACITY CHALLENGE: NETWORK RAIL LOOKS AT THE CASE FOR NEW RAIL LINES
- Region & Route:
- National
Network Rail has announced today that it will be conducting a strategic review into the case for building new rail lines across the network of Great Britain. The review will look at five of Network Rail’s strategic routes, north and west of London: Chiltern, East Coast, West Coast, Great Western and Midland Main Lines.
Iain Coucher, Network Rail’s chief executive said: “By 2025 many lines will be full up, especially those running to and from the north and west of London. This will happen even after we have implemented the investment to boost current capacity.
“With popularity for rail growing, we have to start planning for the medium- and long-term future today. We have to see how we can meet the capacity challenge and see what solutions – including potentially, that of new lines – are deliverable and affordable. This review, working in partnership with other players in the railway industry, will kick start this process.
“Network Rail is uniquely positioned to take a network-whole approach in planning the railway of the future. We have a thriving railway today and that must continue and grow to meet the economic and environmental needs of tomorrow’s Great Britain.”
In the last decade passenger numbers have soared by 40% with 1.13bn journeys a year – the greatest number since 1946 – when the network was twice the size. Today around 22,000 services run on weekdays – up from 17,000 at the time of privatisation. In that time too, the amount of freight carried has rocketed by 60%. All credible current projections point to similar growth over the next decade. Also, punctuality has improved to a point where 90% of services arrive on time.
Network Rail has launched a tendering process to appoint a consultancy to assist this study.
Notes to editors
The review will be run on the same basis as Network Rail’s successful route utilisation strategies (RUS) which look at future demand and service provision for each rail route. The RUS process is managed by Network Rail on behalf of the industry, with full input from passenger and freight operators, funders and other stakeholders. It is anticipated that Network Rail will announce the name of the successful consultancy firm by the end of July and that an initial report will be completed in summer 2009.Contact information
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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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