In the next few years, we can expect to see major developments in the UK rail network. Network Rail is investing billions of pounds into upgrading its services across the country, to improve the speed and efficiency of its services across the board.
Keep reading to find out more about the planned developments, and the ambitious targets that Network Rail has set for itself.
What are the main rail projects planned for 2022?
Network Rail has announced a major new Railway Upgrade Plan, which will see the company invest several billion pounds into upgrading its services and providing a more efficient transportation service.
In fact, according to Network Rail, the new Railway Upgrade Plan ‘ represents the biggest investment programme in the railways since Victorian times.’
Network Rail’s CP6 Delivery Plan proposal is due to last until 31 March 2024. The projected expenditure for the plan, as it stands, is over £50 billion.
The plan aims to provide more efficient and more frequent journeys to railway passengers, across all of the UK’s most popular routes. To achieve this, the plan is broken down into subsequent regions, with each one being given its own specific plan.
Alongside providing a better service for individual people travelling on personal journeys, Network Rail believes that this investment will bring major benefits to the economy as a whole, which could not come at a more vital time, as the UK economy builds back after the global pandemic.
Network Rail’s primary targets for CP6 include:
Safety
- 10% improvement in train accident risk
- 13% improvement in level crossing risk
- 54% improvement in lost time injury frequency rate
Train service delivery
- 28% reduction in the number of delayed trains
- 7% improvement in Network Rail delays
- 7% reduction in service-affecting failures
Efficiency
- 4bn incremental efficiencies
Sustainable growth
- Achieve a 25% improvement in carbon emissions
- Achieve an 18% improvement in energy consumption
Customer service
- Reduce the average customer complaint response time to 29 days
Diversity in employment
- 50% increase in gender diversity
If you would like to find out more about the Delivery Plan for CP6, Network Rail has provided a detailed breakdown of the changes that will be implemented in each region (including Crossrail and High Speed rail link plans) on its website.
What has changed with the HS2 railway line?
However, since the start of the plan’s implementation, there have been some considerable changes.
The most notable change to the Great North Rail Project concerns the eastern stretch of the new planned HS2 railway.
Initially, the plan was to build a high-speed line, which would travel from the east to the west of England, from Birmingham to Leeds. Now, however, this East West rail link will not be built in full.
Instead, the rail link will extend from Manchester to an earlier point along the railway, rather than going the whole way from Birmingham to Leeds. The remainder of the Transpennine rail route will, instead, have its existing line upgraded. The cost of the Transpennine route upgrade is predicted to reach a further £54 billion.
Although the change in plans has caused some dissatisfaction for Northern businesses, officials and travellers, this alternative solution will, it is predicted, reduce the train time from Manchester to Leeds by 22 minutes, and cut the average journey time from Birmingham to Nottingham down by over 30 minutes, from over 1 hour, to 26 minutes.
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