Plans for £38 billion investment in railways unveiled
31 Mar 2014 03:17 PM
Millions of passengers
across the country will benefit from the £38 billion 5-year plan to
transform the railways.
A route-by-route plan for how an
ambitious 5-year programme to invest £38 billion in railways will take
shape has been unveiled today (31 March 2014).
Millions of passengers across
the country will benefit from the plan to transform the railways, giving
passengers more trains, more seats, reduced congestion and bigger, better
stations.
The 5-year plan for Network
Rail’s new funding period, which starts on 1 April 2014, will target the
busiest parts of Britain’s rail network, providing a significant boost to
the economy.
Transport Secretary Patrick
McLoughlin said:
A key part of this
government’s long term economic plan is investing in world class
infrastructure.
That is why we are putting
record amounts of government funding into our railways over the next 5
years.
That investment will generate
growth, create jobs and boost business while delivering faster journeys,
greater comfort and better punctuality for passengers across the
UK.
The Chief Secretary to the
Treasury, Danny Alexander said:
After years of neglect, the
UK’s energy, road, rail, flood defence, communications and water
infrastructure needs renewal, and as I set out in December, you name it, this
government is building it.
The government was the first to
set out a clear, long term plan for infrastructure and we’re delivering
it.
This £38 billion programme
starting this week will involve the largest modernisation of the railways since
Victorian times, funding projects across the whole of the UK and building on
the work that is already underway to give us the modern efficient transport
infrastructure that we need to compete.
Find out what else the
government is doing to support and grow theUK economy.
Key features of the
plan for England and Wales include:
- the Northern Hub: transforming
rail across the north of England with capacity for hundreds more trains and 44
million more passengers, with the potential to boosting the regional economy
with thousands more jobs
- the Thameslink programme:
increasing to 24 trains per hour at peak times each way through the centre of
London, freeing up capacity on the capital’s transport
network
- Over 850 miles of railway
electrification: including the Great Western Main Line, Midland Main Line and
across the north and north west of England, bringing greener, more frequent and
more reliable journeys for millions of passengers
- A new, electrified railway
linking the Great Western, West Coast and Midland main lines, connecting Oxford
with Bedford and Milton Keynes as part of the East-West Rail
project
- Transformed stations at
Birmingham New Street, Manchester Victoria, Bristol Temple Meads and London
Bridge
Improving passenger, public and
workforce safety is a central part of the plans, which include the closure of a
further 500 level crossings on top of almost 800 closed since
2010.
In addition, 7,000 kilometres of
track and nearly 6,000 sets of points will be renewed or refurbished and 7,000
kilometres of fencing and almost 300,000 square metres of platforms at stations
will be replaced or renewed.
Network Rail has also committed
to making even more trains run on time. By 2019, it has agreed to increase
punctuality levels to 92.5% across England and Wales while running more trains
and carrying more people than ever before.
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