Media centre

Network Rail has announced a major step forward in tackling climate change by becoming the first railway company in the world to set the most ambitious Science-Based Targets to limit global warming.

Passengers at some of Britain’s biggest and busiest railway stations can now benefit from new, free and unlimited WiFi.

21 October 2020 – 10 January 2021
the Design Museum
#WomanatWork

• First time Network Rail SME spending has exceeded £2.5bn in a single financial year
• In 2019-20, Network Rail spent 35.6 per cent of its expenditure with SMEs
• Network Rail ahead of government target to spend 33 per cent of expenditure with SMEs by 2022

• As lockdown eased earlier this year, trespass incidents on the railway increased 
• More than 5,000 trespass incidents recorded between June and September 2020 
• September 2020 was the worst September in five years, seeing a 17% increase on same time last year 

• Customer facing staff working in the UK experience over 400 abuse incidents every day and rising [i]
• 43% of shop workers say they have been threatened with physical violence. 1 in 5 mention the use of a knife [ii]
• 70% of front line rail staff have experienced workplace violence in the last 12 months [iii]

Almost 1,500 lifts and 300 escalators across some 500 stations around the country will soon be directly ‘live’ reporting their working condition. Passengers will be able to see which lifts and escalators are working, helping them plan their journeys through stations with real-time knowledge of the access available.

A series of witty and challenging benches by emerging architects and designers have been unveiled at some of London’s largest railway stations, following a design competition organised by the London Festival of Architecture and Network Rail.