Friday 2 May 2008
NETWORK RAIL RESPONDS TO ORR WEST COAST ANNOUNCEMENT
- Region & Route:
- National
Following the New Year engineering work, the ORR began an investigation into the overruns at Rugby and Liverpool Street. As a result, Network Rail was fined and a “provisional order” was placed on the company to deliver a robust plan to the ORR by the end of March 2008 for the completion of the West Coast project.
Today the ORR has announced that Network Rail has met the requirements of the provisional order, and they consider we have a robust delivery plan in place for the completion of the West Coast project by December 2008.
Iain Coucher, Chief Executive, said: “This news puts us on firm ground to press ahead with our plans to complete the £8.6bn project to transform services on the West Coast Main Line. Our plans deliver a big prize for passengers and freight users alike in the shortest time possible with 30% more long-distance services and significantly improved journey times across the West Coast route by the end of the year.
"We recognise that this massive engineering undertaking will continue to cause disruption to services along the route for the rest of the year, especially at weekends and bank holidays but the significant benefits that will be delivered make it more than worthwhile.
"Continued close working with all train operators on this, and neighbouring routes will help to keep passengers and freight moving and disruption to a minimum."
Benefits:
- An increase from two to three trains per hour between London and Manchester (in 2003 there was just one)
- An increase from two to three trains per hour between London and Birmingham
- A new hourly service between London and Chester, and London and Preston
Example faster journey times:
London Euston to.....2003.....Today.....Dec'08.....Overall gain
Birmingham.............1hr 43...1hr 33.....1hr 23.....23 mins
Manchester..............2hr 41...2hr 11.....1hr 58.....43 mins
Liverpool.................2hr 53...2hr 31.....2hr 07......46 mins
Glasgow..................5hr 06...4hr 25.....4hr 10......56 mins
Notes to editors
Background: - The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is Europe’s busiest mixed-use railway. It runs from London’s Euston station through to cities like Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow and carries more than 2,000 trains per day - In total, the route comprises some 1,660 track miles, 2,800 signals including 13 major junctions and 10,000 bridge spans £750m will be invested on the West Coast during 2008 - The work will facilitate one of the most radical timetable changes for decades (delivering benefits across many different routes)Contact information
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