Five-year plan will entail replacing 7,000km of track
Network Rail has announced that it will spend 拢38bn upgrading the UK鈥檚 railway system over the next five years.
The plan, approved by the Office for Rail Regulation, comes into effect from today.
Network Rail will spend 拢13bn on projects to relieve overcrowding, uncork bottlenecks and increase capacity; a further 拢12bn will be spent on replacing and renewing older parts of the railway; and 拢13bn will be spent on day-to-day maintenance.
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said 鈥渋nvesting in world class infrastructure鈥� was 鈥渁 key part of this government鈥檚 long term economic plan鈥�.
He added: 鈥淭hat is why we are putting record amounts of government funding into our railways over the next five years.
鈥淭hat investment will generate growth, create jobs and boost business while delivering faster journeys, greater comfort and better punctuality for passengers across the UK.鈥�
Mark Carne, chief executive of Network Rail, said: 鈥淢illions of passengers and freight users will benefit enormously from the plans we set out today to wisely spend and invest 拢38bn in transforming some of the busiest parts of our railway network.鈥�
Projects in the plan include:
- Renewing over 7,000km of track
- Replacing 75 football pitches worth of station platforms (300,000m虏)
- Improving train punctuality to 92.5% across the country
- Cutting the cost of running the British railway network by 20%
- Investing in new technology and equipment that will deliver step-changes in productivity and efficiency
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