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A 17-year-old schoolgirl from Northamptonshire will have her first year’s university tuition fees paid after landing the top prize in a national competition to encourage more young women to consider a career in IT.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers and freight users are set to benefit from one of the biggest Easter investment programmes ever carried out on Britain’s rail network.

Passengers travelling to the Cheltenham Festival from Birmingham New Street are being urged to allow plenty of time to catch their train - to avoid long faces before the races have even started.

• Apprenticeships fast-track people towards personal and professional goals, Network Rail research shows

• Network Rail boss urges employers, teachers and parents to work together to educate young people about apprenticeships

Network Rail, the owner and operator of Britain’s railway infrastructure, will be assessing interest in its electrical power assets from potential global investors and electricity network operators.

Britain’s commuters are being warned to take care at level crossings on their journey home from work after new figures from Network Rail revealed that more than half of all near misses with trains at level crossings over the last five years took place during the evening rush hour.

The line between Carlisle and Appleby is to be closed for several months due to a major landslip involving an estimated 500,000 tonnes of earth.