Network Rail’s Western route reveals five year £multi-billion plan to improve the railway and increase services in the South West: Raising the sea wall to protect the railway at Dawlish

Tuesday 13 Feb 2018

Network Rail’s Western route reveals five year £multi-billion plan to improve the railway and increase services in the South West

Region & Route:
Wales & Western: Western
| Wales & Western
  • Proposed £2bn+ plan to maintain and improve the railway in the Western region between 2019 and 2024
  • Plans include supporting an additional 140,000 more trains per year from 2019 and working ever more closely with operators to improve reliability across the route by more than 11%
  • Target of 6% efficiency, creating potential savings of over £100m

Network Rail’s Western route today published its ambitious five-year plan to operate, maintain and renew (OMR) the region’s railway over the five years to 2024 (Control Period 6, CP6).

The publication of the Strategic Business Plan (SBP) is a major milestone in the ongoing process to determine Network Rail’s funding requirements for the five years to 2024 (Control Period 6, CP6). The plan represents Network Rail’s initial, but detailed view, following the publication of Governments (England & Wales and Scotland) high level output specifications (HLOS) and statements of funds available (SoFA). The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will now review the plan and make a draft determination of Network Rail’s funding needs in June, and a final determination in the autumn.

The Western plan will support the delivery of 140,000 new services each year for passengers, quicker journeys and new connections. The £2bn+ plan will drive economic growth, jobs and housing by delivering a better railway for the millions of people who rely on it.

Mark Langman, Western route managing director, said: “Passengers journeys will be transformed from 2019 with 140,000 new services each year across the route, better connecting communities and driving economic growth.

“Today we set out our plans to improve the railways of the Thames Valley, Cotswold and West and South West of England in the five years to 2024. The plan will support the ushering in of the new digital age of the railway, and the planned increase in passenger and freight services enabled by the new infrastructure built in the last five years.”

Passengers in the South West will also benefit from continuing resilience work to protect the railway from extreme weather; particularly at Teignmouth, Dawlish and flood-prone areas and sea defences will be bolstered.

Improved track between Totnes and Plymouth would also see faster journeys and better journey times to Cornwall. The plan will also support increased GWR services between Plymouth and Penzance, with two new trains per hour in each direction.

The plan sets our targets to improve the reliability of the railway’s assets (signals, points and track amongst others) by more than 11% and thus reduce delays and deliver better train reliability for passengers and freight users.  

Mr Langman continued: “We recognise that as a public service we have to spend money wisely, make efficiencies where possible and plan better. Therefore we have a plan within this period to deliver 6% efficiencies that could result in savings of over £100m.

“We will also continue to work day and night to keep our railway as the safest in Europe. Our five year plan includes measures to manage and reduce risks to passengers and railway users across the route, including investing around £70m to improve safety at level crossings.

“It is an ambitious, but realistic plan that is not without challenge. We will continue to work closely with train and freight operating companies, bringing track and train together, to deliver a better railway for passengers, businesses and the communities we serve.”

 

Notes to Editors

SBP documents available to view here: www.networkrail.co.uk/sbp-western

At a glance

2,200 train services per day

92m journeys per year

2,839 bridges

1,847 miles of track,

650 level crossings

2,600 employees

Management of London Paddington, Reading and Bristol Temple Meads stations

£2.1bn operations, maintenance and renewals spend in CP5

Carrying more than 20,000 people a day to and from Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport

Working with the Port of Bristol to deliver 10% of the UK’s coal and 25% of the UK’s aviation fuel, and 600,000 motor vehicles annually

Serving seven passenger and six freight train operators

Engaging with 55 local authorities, ten local enterprise partnerships, 66 Members of Parliament and four elected mayors

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office -Western route
07730 354394
MediaRelationsWestern@networkrail.co.uk

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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