Media centre

Monday 1 Apr 2019

Passengers at the heart of plans to spend over £2bn improving the railway

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

| Eastern

Network Rail Anglia has published its business plan for the five years to March 2024 with over £2.2bn planned investment for operating, maintaining and renewing the railway.

Network Rail Anglia has published its business plan for the five years to March 2024 with over £2.2bn planned investment for operating, maintaining and renewing the railway.

A range of improvements are included that will benefit passengers in Greater London, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. This five-year period is known as Control Period 6, and the funding that we have secured represents a 21% increase when compared to the previous Control Period 5 settlement.  

The plan focuses on making improvements to what matters most to passengers and freight users and sets out how we will work much more closely with train and freight operating companies to improve punctuality and reliability.

Some of the key work in Anglia’s business plan includes:

• £950 million to maintain and operate our network;
• £400 million to renew or refurbish nearly a quarter of our track;
• £350 million to improve our signalling and level crossings, including major works in Clacton and Cambridge;
• £250 million to renew or repair bridges, embankments, cuttings and structures, including refurbishing the roof at Liverpool Street;
• £200 million to complete renewals of overhead line equipment on the southern end of the Great Eastern main line and undertake similar works on the line from Fenchurch Street.

In addition to maintaining and renewing the railway, Anglia route will continue to support further enhancements on the route.

The plan confirms Anglia route’s commitment to continue working with Transport for London to support the delivery of the Elizabeth line and includes completing building a new station at Meridian Water in Enfield and increasing freight capacity in Suffolk by upgrading the line on the Felixstowe branch.

We will continue to work with our stakeholders to identify the enhancement needs of the network and to secure funding for further upgrades.

Network Rail Anglia’s route managing director Meliha Duymaz, said: “Putting passengers first is at the heart of our delivery plan.

"Securing this record level of investment in our network will provide us with the foundation to deliver improved journeys for our passengers and freight users.

 “We know that a reliable railway matters, and the frustration passengers feel when a train is delayed as this can mean less time spent with loved ones, being late for work or missing appointments.

“We’re prioritising our maintenance and renewals programme to keep our infrastructure running reliably and respond more quickly when it doesn’t. We’re also using remote technology to better understand what causes delays and to prevent them.

“Over the next five years, we will be working more closely with our train operators to make journeys better for everyone."