Media centre

Tuesday 8 Jan 2013

Network Rail sets out response to challenges of East Midlands’ growing railway.

Region & Route:

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.

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 East Midlands Route covers the Midland Main Line (MML) from St Pancras to Chesterfield, along with the East Midlands local routes radiating from Derby, Nottingham and Leicester as far as the East Coast Main Line and West Coast Main Line.

Martin Frobisher, Network Rail route managing director, said: “Our route plan sets out the investments we are making for the future, particularly our focus on new technology and electrification and creating more capacity.

“Electrification plans get will cut the cost of running the railway by up to £60m every year and slash carbon emissions by 13,000 tonnes per year – equivalent to the annual emissions of 15,000 cars.

“Today we have a diesel railway with aging infrastructure. In just seven years time we will be operating one of the most modern electric railways in Europe. The signalling will be controlled from our state of the art control centre in Derby. The overhead line will be constructed using the latest technology for reliability and efficiency. We will use efficient, high output techniques to renew and upgrade the track.

“We will have redesigned the track layout in and around Nottingham station, with a similar scheme to follow at Derby which will improve capacity and traffic flows. This is a total transformation over just a few short years.”

“Further reducing risk at level crossings is a priority. We will continue to close and enhance level crossings in line with our nationwide strategy.”

Railway capacity

Increasing capacity on the railway is essential, with passenger and freight demand increasing every year.

• The total passenger demand between the East Midlands and London St Pancras International is expected to grow by 28 percent over the next 10 years. The market for rail travel to Birmingham is expected to grow at a faster rate, with the number of journeys increasing by 40 percent over the same time frame.

• It is also expected that there will be above average growth in peak passenger demand at Leicester, Nottingham and Derby, where growth across the three-hour morning and evening peaks is expected to be in excess of 30 percent over the next 10 years.

• Electrification of the Midland Main line will allow more frequent, more reliable and quicker trains to run on the route. (£514.61m)

• The line at Derby will be remodelled which will allow an increase in capacity and traffic flows. (£137.22m)

• Platform extensions on the Midland Main Line will allow longer trains to run on the route. (£31.49m)

• Works to improve capacity on the south end of the Midland Main Line. (£458.94m)

• As part of the Thameslink Programme crowding on commuter services into London will be addressed by the introduction of longer trains.

• Line speed improvements at various locations along the Midland Main Line between London St Pancras International and Sheffield will raise the speed for passenger services from 110mph to a maximum permissible speed of 125mph.

Safety

We will improve on the successes we have had to identify hotspots to both reduce railway crime and improve relations in the local communities that surround Network Rail infrastructure.

• We aim to reduce the overall level crossing risk across the route by closure or diversion of 52 crossings and to better engage with users of level crossings to reduce incidents of misuse and to actively discourage intentional misuse.

• Level crossing closure is the preferred option for all crossings but if closure is not possible we will look at upgrades.

National

By 2019, Network Rail’s national strategic business plan 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% 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