NETWORK RAIL RESPONSE TO TRANSPORT SELECT COMMITTEE REPORT INTO THE FUTURE OF BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS

Thursday 1 Apr 2004

NETWORK RAIL RESPONSE TO TRANSPORT SELECT COMMITTEE REPORT INTO THE FUTURE OF BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS

Region & Route:: National

The recommendation of the Committee is a clear one, they wish to renationalise the railway. We are disappointed that the Committee fails to recognise that Network Rail has reduced infrastructure delays by around 8½% over the last year, with double digit reductions for six successive months. But we are pleased that they acknowledge that the Company’s decision to bring maintenance in-house “is a move in the right direction”. We are disappointed that they fail to recognise that costs will fall substantially in the coming years with our 31% efficiency target over the next five years, and that through rigorous cash management we have already reduced spending by some £1 ½bn over the last 18 months. We are disappointed that they fail to recognise the £26bn plan for a better railway which we published this week, which will deliver 90% punctuality within five years. Network Rail’s proposals for "virtual integration" involving eight "fat controllers" at regional control centres will achieve the step change in performance which everyone seeks without the upheaval and disruption that full scale nationalisation would ensure. For media enquiries please contact the Network Rail press office on 020 7557 8292 / 3

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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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