Posted 8th January 2013 | 19 Comments

Network Rail unveils £37bn investment for 2014-19

NETWORK RAIL has published its Strategic Business Plan for the five years from 2014, setting out proposals costing some £37.5 billion to upgrade many parts of the network as well as pushing ahead with major projects including main line electrification, Crossrail and Thameslink. But the ORR will have to be convinced before the money can be spent.

Network Rail chief executive David Higgins is warning that past upgrades were often done on the cheap, and that investment in high quality infrastructure and equipment is now essential to cope with rising passenger and freight traffic.

It is estimated that the number of passengers – already around 1.5 billion journeys a year – will increase by another 30 per cent by 2022.

David Higgins said: "One million more trains run every year than ten years ago, more passengers arrive on time than ever before, our safety record is one of the best in Europe and, despite the daily challenges we face, customer satisfaction is at record levels.  Successive governments have made this possible by looking beyond the short term and recognising the critical importance of the railway to Britain's future.

"As our railway gets busier the challenges get bigger and more complex. We have entered an era of trade-offs. Increasingly we have to balance the need to build more infrastructure, run trains on time and cut costs, and in many areas choices will need to be made.”

But the company's debt will also rise, and the spending plans must be approved by the Office of Rail Regulation first.

ORR chief executive Richard Price said: "Network Rail’s Strategic Business Plan demonstrates the company’s ambition to deliver an even better railway for Britain. ORR will now scrutinise the plan on behalf of rail users and taxpayers to ensure every penny is made to count and that all those involved in delivering the plan work together to achieve the highest levels of efficiency and best possible value for money. Our analysis, informed by public views, will focus on ensuring Network Rail delivers the right plans, in the right ways, at the right cost."

Passenger Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: "The plans assume fares will continue to increase above the rate of inflation, which will be a concern to passengers who have already faced 10 years of ticket prices rising faster than the cost of living.

"Getting costs under control is also a key industry priority to help keep the lid on future rises."

Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

  • Peter Finch, Nottingham

    I have tried unsuccessfully to establish how much money Network Rail spend each year on energising the OHLE (Overhead Live Electrics), how much to maintain it (including the cost thousands of staff involved in OHLE) and how this compares with diesel. Does anyone know? Not to mention the enormous cost uplift of construction works wherever there is any OHLE in the vicinity.
    Incidentally, in answer to previous comments, as far as I am aware, goods freight is not powered by OHLE. This is limited to passenger trains only and maybe parcel trains.

    [Some freight is hauled by electric locomotives (DRS is taking delivery of Class 88s which are both electric and diesel, the first of which arrived last month) but not as many as the industry would like. You might be disappointed if you waited for a parcels train these days.--Editor]

  • Peter, London

    Network Rail is not a company serving the whole of the UK, it is essentially a company which serves almost exclusively southern England, neglecting the other parts of the UK and ensuring that growth in those areas remains limited. That investment is not being made adequately in the other areas is a clear failure of Government. Perhaps if Government spent less time in London, the rest of the country could be adequately served. It will be sad if North England, Wales and Northern Ireland have to follow Scotland's lead and declare independence from South England (i.e. greater Westminster) in order to have a fair chance to compete for taxpayers money

    ('Network Rail is not a company serving the whole of the UK' -- indeed it is not. Network Rail owns and manages the National Rail infrastructure in Great Britain and has no responsibility for Northern Ireland Railways. There are major programmes of electrification outside London & the SE, as well as the Northern Hub, included in this investment.—Editor.)

  • Tim Price, Bestwood Village

    @ Miles, London.
    Electric freight will be lucky to get as far as Sheffield unless the Erewash Valley and Beighton routes are wired. Imagine the chaos competing for paths over the double track section from Ambergate to Clay Cross and from Tapton.

    Totally agree with you re Liverpool - Norwich too. It's ridiculous having 90mph Sprinters, still crowded despite being doubled up, on a route that should be seen as an Intercity route.

  • Miles, London

    Electric Spine- Stupid idea, freight can't move further than Sheffield under electric traction.

    HLOS- Stupid. Most of the Cross Country Mainline is electrified apart from the last stretch from Derby to Plymouth. Voyagers still used for 200 miles under wires.

    HS2- Too small. Should become part of a national infrastructure rebirth linked with projects such as the Thames Estuary Airport. The plans are too vauge anyway.

    We have important intercity routes such as Norwich to Liverpool, Manchester to Glasgow and Trans Pennine services operated by stupid multiple units when they should be full length intercity trains. As expected to be seen on lines out of London.

    We have diesel trains running many distances under wires-including freight.

    Intercity trains are too short when they should be 12-18 cars.

    London commuter trains are far, far too packed and not long enough, while Manchester commuter trains are falling to pieces.

    Fares higher than Hendrix.

    I'm pretty sure if Network SouthEast and British Rail got to see the light of the 21st century all this wouldn't be a problem. It's time for the railways to begin to run themselves again and not used by politicians to gain a fanfare when announcing the same upgrade package for the one billionth time. I mean restaurant cars...If we're going to stand the whole way from London to Preston can we at least have a restaurant car?

    I can hear the bland, Network Rail management speak already..

  • Chris Neville-Smith, Durham, England

    "Chris Neville-Smith says that Thatcher privatised the railways in 1993."

    I think you missed the point. I was making an example of just how informed the typical comments are on BBC News articles are about railways.

    I am perfectly aware of which roles Thatcher had in government in 1993, but I've given up trying to correct this and other gems of "wisdom" to the BBC News comment writers.

  • Bob Grundy, Lancing

    More investment in rail has to be good news. The BUT is, after what the Public Accounts Committee, the National Audit Office, and the ORR have all said about NR's non-existent cost control, do we trust them to get value for their billions? And how long will the treasury maintain the fiction that NR's debt is not part of the national debt, despite being government-guaranteed?

  • Leslie burge, leicester

    Would love to see even more investment than the 37bn.Take it out of the roads budget.
    Electrification from Felixstowe to Nuneaton ought to be a priority.As should BML2
    And why do we have so many hoops to jump through to get things done even after the government has sanctioned them?
    It seems to take ages to get anything on the railways done compared to new roads.

  • John Edwards, Woodford Halse

    What is the point of this? Most (if not all) of these projects have been ongoing or planned for some time. They must think that we're really stupid.

    Indeed, work on the Borders Railway started last year, the Act authorising the line having been passed in 2007, on the initiative of the SNP and not wretched Network Fail.

  • Tim Price, Bestwood Village

    The East Midlands route plan states that most services East of Nottingham to Norwich have been strengthened to four cars and therefore capacity is sufficient. This is incorrect as all except for one train in each direction are two cars and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future, despite capacity approaching maximum.
    Also, the same document states that Northamptonshire and Leicestershire MML services will be operated by "Four car 350 type trains". Does this mean that Thameslink will be expanding north? Not sure if this will be a good or a bad thing!

  • John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire

    Dear Editor, Thank you for your comment. My query concerned what details are actually included IN THIS L:ATEST STATEMENT. Regards, John Gilbert

    (Very little that is new, actually. What we have here is a potential confirmation [depending on the ORR] that Network Rail is gearing up to achieve electrification, etc., and has worked out the finances. Whether you agree with the calculations is a separate issue. The February print edition of Railnews will include analysis of the SBP.—Editor.)

  • John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire

    Chris Neville-Smith says that Thatcher privatised the railways in 1993. Well, I hold absolutely no brief whatsoever for that lady, (who is reputed to have said that Rail Privatisation was "a privatisation too far,") but it was John Major and his Tories 'what did the dirty', almosty literally moving heaven and earth to ensure that the evil deed was done before the 1997 election. And of course those other wonderful politicians, of equally towering integrity, Labour, having stated vigorously pre-election that they would undo the privatisation, did precisely nothing!!!

  • Tony Pearce, Reading

    Network Rail now has debts of over £28 billion. (It justifies its borrowing on the grounds that the Network is now worth £45 billion.) So we add to that £37 billion announced (again) today and maybe another £20 billion for HS2 Phase 1. Presumably someone's got to pay the interest on that little lot - Taxpayer or Passenger ? Will Network Rail be able to borrow any more ? It seems to me the economics of the mad-house but maybe I've missed something ?

  • Jamie, Sheffield (formerly of Farnborough)

    They're correct, the railways have got a lot of things right these last years, They're very popular, the intercity services and many of the commuter companies are very good, the opening of HS1 (not particularly a Network Rail achievement but it all ties in) and the approval of Crossrail and HS2 etc...

    However, things are far from perfect, the fares being a major bad. If you want to travel on the weekend it's quite often chaotic and unpredictable. With record passenger numbers comes big overcrowding and the quality of local trains up north is truly shocking compared with the ones I'm used to using in and around London.

  • David Callam, Greater London

    In response to CNS: I assume the Brighton Line item refers to the long planned introduction of relief routes to the south coast east and west of the main line.
    The first is via East Grinstead, Uckfield and Lewes to Eastbourne and points east (yes, that will mean additional electrification and re-opening a stretch of previously closed line between Uckfield and Lewes).
    And the second is via Sutton, Horsham and Barnham to Bognor Regis and points west.

  • Windsorian, UK

    Hopefuly ORR will adopt a Value Engineering approach to a western facing connection from GWML to Heathrow T5; at present this is projected to cost £500m.

    The WRAtH route put forward by Slough Borough Council is a deep and very expensive bored tunnel under Richings Park Golf Club and the proposed site of the Slough International Freight Exchange (SIFE) rail depot; however an appeal against Slough's rejection of the SIFE proposal is imminent.

    It's worth remembering that a number of golf clubs will be affected along the HS2 proposed route, for which the goverment is notproposing to tunnel under; so why should a deep bored tunnel be required under Richings Park Golf Club in Slough ???

  • hugo rogers, newbury

    i think they should be spending money on reinstatements making it easier to travel to places that r not network connected, and also diversionary routes for example the inland route to plymouth, not via the seawall as has been closed due to landslips. also a major north south route, not via reading should be constructed to take traffic directly to southampton and not to reading. ths enabling reading to be more effectively used. i havent seen any britain reopenings for a while, while scotland has seemed to be able to get on with it.... peak oil will happen, so we need to do something about this now not when oil runs out.

  • John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire

    Another comment from me! So what ARE the details of these proposals? None given as far as I can see|!!

    (Editor's note.—Most are already known, such as electrification, Crossrail and Thameslink. For details, click on the link provided in this story to the Network Rail site, where all the SBP documents may be downloaded in full.)

  • John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire

    Of course the good old ORR remain to be convinced - in spite of the Government announcing these schemes as far back as last September!!! Can no one be believed in the UK? It's all part of the good old British delay mentality. Delay, delay, delay. So how many hurdles remain to be jumped over before what the Government announced four months ago actually begins to happen? Your guess is as good as mine! What a state of affairs this country creates. Difficulties without number. "Ah but," "ah but," "ah but," "Must go through the usual channels!!" Pah!!!

  • Chris Neville-Smith, Durham, England

    I almost lost the will to live reading the comments on the BBC News article. I think my favourite one is a close run between this £37bn going straight into the pockets of the greedy shareholders of Network Rail, and Thatcher privatising the railways in 1993.

    However, as I might get a more intelligent answer here ...

    I've read the Network Rail summary of this, and it says that HS2 is needed because the West Coast Main Line will soon be full. However, it also said the Brighton Main Line will soon be full in the same sentence. There are plenty of rail improvements going on all over the country, but I didn't see anything that helps the Brighton Main Line (apart from the Thameslink trains getting lengthened, which I'd have thought is only a marginal help).

    Anyone know what's going on here?

    (Editor's note—.Network Rail has no shareholders -- greedy or otherwise.)