Media centre

Friday 2 Nov 2018

Network Rail secures record £2bn to provide a better railway for passengers in Surrey

Region & Route:

Southern: Wessex

| Southern

Network Rail has secured a budget of more than £2 billion to provide a safer and more reliable railway for passengers travelling on the south western rail network through Surrey and the surrounding areas.

The money will be spent between 2019 and 2024 across the route, which runs out of London’s Waterloo station, and represents more than a 20% increase on the existing five-year budget.

The funding will be focused on renewing and maintaining existing infrastructure to stop it failing, giving people more reliable train journeys in the future.

Becky Lumlock, route managing director for Network Rail’s Wessex route, said:

“We now have more money than ever before to invest in this route and make a real difference to people’s journeys - that’s great news for the people of Surrey and the surrounding area.

 “With almost a quarter of billion passenger journeys a year, this part of the railway is under enormous pressure. The next five years are about making sure our tracks, our signals, our bridges and everything in-between, are in first-class condition and can support this growing demand.

“We know we still have much to do to improve train performance on our route and, working with South Western Railway, this funding will help us do that for the communities we serve.”

The Wessex route budget has been set out in the Office of Road and Rail’s (ORR) final determination. This confirms what Network Rail will spend to provide a safe, reliable and efficient railway.

Our work in and around Surrey will see us replace ageing infrastructure and improving the resilience of the railway. This will give passengers a more reliable, safer train service by reducing the number of times our infrastructure fails, while avoiding speed restrictions being put in place. We will also be installing digital ready equipment, laying the groundwork for a future digital railway.

Work includes:

• track renewal for eight key junctions at Nine Elms, Wimbledon, Berrylands, Twickenham, Witton, Staines, Wokingham and Guildford;
• reducing the risk of landslips during bad weather at Wimbledon, New Malden and Pirbright;
• installing brand new signalling at Feltham, improving the reliability of services from Reading and Windsor into Waterloo;
• bridge strengthening and renewals in Stoughton and Farnham;
• making improvements to Victoria Arch bridge at Woking;
• station improvements, including reglazing part of the original Victorian glass roof at Waterloo station and platform work at Clapham Junction and Guildford stations to reduce the gap between trains and platforms; and
• drainage work to reduce the risk of the railway flooding at Guildford.

ENDS