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Tuesday 8 Jan 2013

Network Rail sets out five-year investment plan for Britain’s railway for the West Midlands

Region & Route:

A £550m plus investment in the West Midlands rail infrastructure, providing new tracks and electrification to meet the growing demand for rail transport in the West Midlands.

Network Rail today committed to continuing the biggest investment in infrastructure since the Victorian era, reducing costs and delivering more passengers on time than ever before – but also warned that tough choices need to be made if the industry is to meet these competing challenges and respond to ever rising demand from passengers.

Network Rail’s strategic business plan, which has been submitted to the Office of Rail Regulation, sets out proposals which will help drive Britain’s economy and make its railway as efficient as the best in Europe. The strategic business plan covers the period from 2014 to 2019 (known as control period five, or CP5) and includes detailed plans for each of Britain’s ten strategic rail routes.

The London North Western route makes up a quarter of the national rail network and includes the West Coast Main Line, the busiest mixed-use railway line in Europe connecting London with Scotland via the West Midlands and the north-west of England.

To meet the challenge of increasing demand, Network Rail and its industry partners will deliver a programme of electrification, signalling upgrades, new tracks and longer trains over the 2014-19 period to provide the capacity needed to cope with continued demand from passengers. However, even this will not be enough on the busy West Coast Main Line, where the added capacity that HS2 will provide is essential both for the future of the railway and the economic prosperity of the country.

Dyan Crowther, Network Rail’s managing director for the LNW route, said: “Our route plan sets out the investment we are making for the future, with a particular focus on new technology and electrification to help create a bigger, better railway in the West Midlands.

“In just seven years time we will have dramatically improved rail travel between the key towns and cities of the West Midlands, enabling the provision of more trains and more seats to help drive economic growth.

“However, as our route gets busier our challenges get bigger and more complex. Despite these plans, in less than a decade the busiest parts of the West Coast Main Line will be full as passenger numbers will keep on growing. One thing is absolutely clear – when it comes to HS2, the question is not ‘Should it be built?’ but ‘How quickly can it be built?’”

Jerry Blackett, chief executive of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group, said: “It is important to recognise the investment the West Midlands has enjoyed in rail over the last few years. The upgrade to the West Coast Mainline alone made a big difference to business. We now need to redouble our efforts to model the additional business growth that could be released if we were to improve yet further rail connectivity across and through our region. High speed rail is of course massively important to see delivered and we must have great local connectivity into this.”

Some of the key projects proposed to improve the railway in the West Midlands include:

• Stafford area improvements. A £255m programme of works including line speed improvements between Crewe and Norton Bridge (north of Stafford); resignalling works and the provision of a new freight loop at Stafford; the construction of a new flyover at Norton Bridge, subject to a development consent order with public consultation ongoing. On completion, the works will remove a key bottleneck on the network and provide faster, more frequent services for passengers with improved reliability.
• Bromsgrove and Redditch Cross City service extensions. A £65m programme of works to electrify the southern end of the Cross City Line between Barnt Green and Bromsgrove. In addition, a new section of line is being delivered between Alvechurch and Redditch, with a second platform and footbridge at Alvechurch station. These schemes will enable an increase in services from two to three trains per hour between Redditch, Bromsgrove and Birmingham New Street. To facilitate this, Bromsgrove Station will also be relocated.
• Coventry to Nuneaton upgrade. Network Rail is working with Coventry City Council, Warwickshire County Council and Centro on their plans to provide two new stations and an extra train per hour on the line. The project is due for completion in 2014.
• Electric spine. This is the electrification and delivery of new tracks on the line between Coventry and Leamington as part of a strategy to create a high capacity, electric passenger and freight corridor between Southampton and the Midlands. This will improve accessibility to Birmingham Airport; we are also working with partners to maximise the benefits of improvements on the route between Coventry and Leamington.
• Walsall to Rugeley electrification. This is a key component of the DfT’s High Level Output Statement, which recognises the scheme’s regional and strategic value including that of increased commuter demand into Birmingham.
• Birmingham New Street Redevelopment. A £600m project to transform New Street station into a modern, welcoming, accessible gateway to the city alongside the Grand Central and John Lewis retail development. The first part of the new concourse will open in April 2013, Grand Central will open in Autumn 2014 with the entire project completed in 2015.

Network Rail’s plans for Britain’s railway will benefit millions of passengers in England, Wales and Scotland. By 2019, the plan set out today will deliver a railway that:

• Moves 225m more passengers per year and carries 355,000 more trains – the highest numbers ever seen on Britain’s railways
• Provides 20% extra morning peak seats into central London and 32% into large regional cities in England and Wales
• Delivers a step change in connectivity between regional centres e.g. 700 more trains a day linking key northern cities and a ten minute reduction in journey time between Manchester and Leeds
• Carries 30% more freight than today
• Maintains record levels of performance, with expected PPM (public performance measure) of 92.5 per cent by the end of CP5
• Is future-proofing critical infrastructure such as 30,000 bridges, embankments and tunnels against the impact of changing weather patterns, including flooding
• Has cut CO₂ emissions per passenger by 37% – the equivalent of one million lorries off of our congested roads – and has hundreds of miles more electrified railway
• Is the safest in Europe, reducing risk at level crossings by 8% in CP5
• Continues to modernise antiquated signalling equipment as part of a plan to move away from over 800 signal boxes to 14 major operations centres, allowing us to run more trains closer together, safely and reliably

Is more efficient, reducing the cost of running Britain’s railways by a further 18% and cutting annual public subsidy to between £2.6bn and £2.9bn in 2019 – down from £4.5bn in 2009 and £7bn in 2004.