Thursday 12 Jun 2014
West Country benefits from record rail investment as Network Rail publishes its full-year results
- Region & Route:
- | Wales & Western: Western
- | Wales & Western
More than £1bn was invested in improving and expanding the rail network connecting London with the south west over the last 12 months, Network Rail revealed today in its full-year results for the 2013/14 financial year.
The record investment provided new platforms, new lifts, new information systems, new concourses, new footbridges and new track to build a bigger, better railway across the region.
Successive governments have recognised the need to invest in Britain’s railway to respond to demand and expand the network. This year that investment reached record levels and high levels of expenditure – £7bn over the next five years – will carry on as Network Rail continues its task to improve and expand the network in the east as passenger numbers continue to grow.
Patrick Hallgate, Network Rail route managing director, said: "We are in the middle of a rail renaissance with record levels of passenger numbers and record levels of investment. This flourishing sector is investing heavily to improve the railway for today, and for the rail users of tomorrow.
“With more trains on the network than 10 years ago, there are inevitable challenges - we are determined to do more to improve train reliability in the face of these challenges. We will increase the reliability of the network and make it more resilient to climate change. Continued investment in our railway will be key if we are to continue to grow our economy and deliver a better, improving, expanding rail network for millions of passengers."
He added: "Our determination cannot waver over the coming years as we look to restore train punctuality to record high levels and wisely spend and invest £7bn to improve and expand our railway for passengers and businesses across the South West.”
Storm recovery: The storms that ravaged the South West in the beginning of this year left the railway hanging by a thread - literally in the case of Dawlish. £35 million was spent to restore services between Plymouth and Exeter, and work continues to add further resilience, both in Dawlish and elsewhere.
Electrification: The Great Western main line from Paddington to Bristol and Bath is to be electrified by 2016-17, which will allow the introduction of a new fleet of trains. Work to rebuild bridges across the route as extra height is needed to install new overhead line equipment is ongoing.
Notes to editors
Today, 50m passenger journeys are made by rail on the Great Western Main Line and its branches. The continued growth in the popularity of rail travel means that by 2019 the industry will need to cater for a forecast growth of 51% in passenger numbers on routes connecting London to the Thames Valley, west and south west England and south Wales.. This growth has led to severe overcrowding at the busiest times of day on many trains especially in Bristol, Oxford and Reading. Trains between Reading and the capital account for six of the 10 most overcrowded rail journeys in Britain.
Major capital projects to be implemented over the next five years include:
- Western Hub – A £700m investment programme to improve connectivity, boost performance and introduce 3,200 more seats during peak hours through Bristol. It involves 31 individual projects, including amongst others electrification, four-tracking of Filton Bank, track remodelling at Bristol East junction, new platforms at Bristol Parkway and upgrading Bristol Temple Meads station.
- Electrification – The GWML from Paddington to Bristol, Oxford and Newbury is to be electrified by 2016-17, which will allow the introduction of new Intercity Express Programme: Super Express Trains. These trains will have 20% more seats and their faster acceleration and deceleration will lead to journey time reductions of up to 22 minutes.
- Crossrail - The new high density service between Reading to Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport, and east London, via the West End and City of London, will run from December 2019. This will reduce crowding on the eastern stretch of Western route beyond Maidenhead by 30%.
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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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