Network Rail to embark on £38bn railway investment programme

Network Rail has revealed plans to start a five-year £38bn spending and investment programme designed to meet the British passengers’ needs for more trains, more seats, reduced congestion and bigger, better stations.

The company claimed in a statement that that five-year plan will see the busiest parts of Britain’s rail network targeted and will provide capacity for 170,000 extra seats for commuters at peak time, while also shortening journeys and providing for hundreds more daily services between the cities of the north (Northern Hub).

The investment programme also includes provisions for electrifying more than 850 miles of railway and purchasing whole new fleets of electric trains. Furthermore, 75 football pitches worth of station platforms are set to be replaced (300,000m²), a measure that would help transform hundreds of stations around the country including London Bridge, Manchester Victoria, Birmingham New Street and Glasgow Queen Street.

As a direct result of the investment programme, Network Rail vows to push train punctuality to 92.5% across the country, making the network the best performing in Europe, and also to cut the cost of running the British railway network by 20% making it one of the most efficient.

Mark Carne, chief executive of Network Rail, said: “Britain’s railways are a vital part of our national infrastructure. They connect homes and workplaces, businesses with markets, they create jobs, stimulate trade and support the growth of a balanced economy.

“We are good at delivering projects both great and small and at providing a safe and reliable railway but want to do even more for the people that rely on our railway network. This investment responds to the growth and demands being placed upon us by delivering bigger, better stations, more trains and seats, reopened railway lines and fewer level crossings. We all want an improving, safer, successful and better value railway for everyone, and that is what we will do."