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Almost £1.4bn was invested in improving and expanding the rail network in the West Midlands and north west over the last 12 months, an increase of more than 40% compared to the previous year.

Almost £7bn was invested in improving and expanding Britain’s rail network over the last 12 months, Network Rail revealed today in its full-year results for the 2013/14 financial year.

New technology used at Manchester Piccadilly station has revealed millions of people a year are visiting the station to shop, eat and drink in addition to those who travel by rail.

New sensor technology at Britain's biggest and busiest stations has revealed tens of millions of people a year are visiting them to shop, eat and drink, in addition to those who travel by rail. The new data coincides with Network Rail's latest quarterly retail sales figures, showing a healthy 5.6% growth in like-for-like sales from January to March 2014, well above reported high street growth of 0.5%¹ during the same period. On an annualised basis, Network Rail station retailers reported like-for-like sales growth of 6.1% while high street sales reached just 0.75%².

Network Rail will start work to rebuild a bridge in Walsall town centre later this year as part of plans to electrify 15 miles of railway in the West Midlands.

Work has started to extend platforms at five stations between London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street to provide the option for longer trains and extra seats on the Chiltern main line.

Residents and local businesses are being invited to discover more about a multi-million pound investment which will remove one of the last remaining bottlenecks on the West Coast main line.

The Station Office Network, the joint venture between Network Rail and The Office Group, has announced that it will open a further three drop-in work spaces in 2014 following the successful launch of its flexible office product at Paddington station in mid-2012.