Media centre

Monday 31 Mar 2014

North East set to benefit from £multi-billion five-year rail investment programme

Region & Route:

Rail passengers in the North East can look forward to more trains, more seats, reduced congestion and bigger, better stations as Network Rail embarks on its next five year investment programme.

The ambitious plan will see the busiest parts of the rail network in the north east and connecting routes transformed by investment that will make a tangible improvement to people’s lives and significantly boost the economy.

By 2019 16% more passengers are expected to be travelling on the network. Demand for rail freight is predicted to increase by 23%. To meet that demand, Network Rail and its industry partners will deliver a programme of investment worth £4.2 billion in the East Coast and East Midlands.

Phil Verster, Route Managing Director for Network Rail, said: “Our railway is a vital part of our national infrastructure. Rail services connect homes and workplaces, businesses and markets; they create jobs, stimulate trade and support the growth of a balanced economy.

“Passenger numbers are expected to increase by 16% by. Our investment plans are crucial to making sure we can meet that demand whilst maintaining a safe and reliable service and making the improvements in performance passengers rightly expect.”

Investments to benefit the north east include:

• “Northern Hub” including trans Pennine electrification and a new line at Dore which will allow up to 700 more trains to run each day across the North of England, providing the space for up to 44 million more passengers a year
• investment worth £247million to unlock bottlenecks and improve performance on the East Coast Main Line
• improvements to support the introduction of the new InterCity Express Programme fleet which will be constructed at Newton Aycliffe

Key elements of the infrastructure (track, signals bridges etc) will also be replaced and renewed. The plans include extensive investment in earthworks and drainage to make the route more resilient in times of extreme weather.

Mr Verster said: “Extreme weather is an increasingly frequent threat to our network, as we have seen with St Jude’s storm last year and the heavy rain and flooding of 2012. We have robust plans to target the most vulnerable parts of our route to improve resilience and make sure we are doing everything possible to keep services running whatever the weather.”

Finally, speaking about the fundamentally important areas of safety and train performance, Mr Verster added: “The safety of everyone who comes into contact with the railway, whether as a passenger, worker or user of a level crossing remains of the utmost importance. We will continue to close level crossings where possible and make improvements when closure is not an option.

“At the same time, along with our colleagues in the train operators, we are committed to make significant improvements in the number of trains which run on time. We are running more trains than ever before and performance remains a tough challenge. Our investment programme over the next five years will help to address the issues of congestion and ageing infrastructure to help drive up train performance.”