Big Changes

Network Rail is working with train operators to deliver £1.2 billion of investment that will create capacity for up to 10,000 extra seats a day on long-distance services, create faster journeys and increase reliability for passengers. The upgrade has already improved the power supply between London and Doncaster as well as other improvements to support the introduction of new Azuma trains. The project will also involve changes to the tracks on the approach to London King’s Cross station and a new platform at Stevenage.

The £7.2 billion Thameslink Programme, completed in 2019, transformed travel across London and the South East, providing new faster, more frequent and more reliable journeys for thousands of passengers.

• 30% more capacity for trains into and through London Bridge
• 115 new trains = 1140 new carriages

New stations at Blackfriars and London Bridge and extensive renovation of Farringdon

The award winning new £1 billion London Bridge station opened in 2018. The UK’s fourth busiest station can now serve 96 million passengers a year, with wider, longer platforms, and a new concourse bigger than the pitch at Wembley Stadium.

The Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) includes modernisation and upgrades to key junctions and infrastructure:

• 150 kilometres of new electrified railway including between Edinburgh and Glasgow
• three redeveloped stations, Cumbernauld, Haymarket and Queen Street
• 42-minute fastest journey time between Edinburgh and Glasgow, down from 51 minutes, and longer eight-car electric trains creating 30% more capacity

The Great North Rail Project (GNRP) is delivering a multi-billion pound package of improvements for passengers across the north of England. By 2022 it will have enabled 2,000 extra services each week and allow 40,000 more passengers to travel across the region each day.

Liverpool City Region

Upgrades to Liverpool Lime Street, the Halton Curve project and a new station for Maghull North are a few of the vital schemes that formed part of a £340m railway investment on- track to finish by 2020.

Manchester to Preston electrification

Passengers can take advantage of greener and quieter journeys on a new high-speed section of track following upgrades and electrification on one of the North West’s busiest routes.

Platform extensions

Lengthening platforms allows passengers access to every carriage on the new longer trains being introduced by train operators. Throughout 2018 and 2019, Network Rail in partnership with TransPennine Express and Northern Rail are extending over 100 platforms at more than 70 stations in the north of England.

Greener, faster, more reliable journeys have been delivered for passengers with electrification along the Great Western Mainline through Newbury, Bristol Parkway, Chippenham and into Cardiff from January 2020.

The rail industry is supporting the Government’s £1.5 billion upgrade of the Midland Main Line with brand new trains, extra services, station and infrastructure upgrades to add 50% more seats per hour during peak times. Electrification of the line to Corby will go live in 2020.

In June 2019, Meridian Water station opened, ready to serve the 10,000 homes which are being developed nearby. The new station is part of the Lee Valley Rail Programme, involving a £170 million investment to support job creation and local regeneration. From September 2019 a half hourly service to Stratford was introduced, to ensure rail plays its full part in this major development programme. Greater Anglia, which manages the station, is also replacing their entire fleet of trains, new for old.

Work continues on Europe’s largest infrastructure project, the Elizabeth Line, which will carry an estimated 200 million passengers every year when fully operational. The new line will transform rail transport in London and the south east, increasing central London rail capacity by 10%. In total, 1.5 million more people will be brought within a 45-minute commute of the existing major employment centres of the West End, the City and Canary Wharf, up from five million currently. Trains are planned to run through the full length of the line between late 2020 to early 2021.

The new route will be a world class rail link connecting Oxford, Bicester, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Cambridge, and communities in between. Throughout 2020, major work to allow trains to run between Bicester Village and Bedford will be carried out, with the first trains running on this section from the end of 2023. Work will include a new station at Winslow, building two new platforms at Bletchley, installing eight new bridges, 22 new foot bridges or subways, and changes to 97 railway crossings.

HS2 is an integral part of tomorrow’s national rail network, crucial to ensuring there is capacity on the existing railway to run the extra trains that will be needed in the decades ahead.

The new line will fully integrate with the existing rail network and connect eight out of ten of Britiain’s largest cities, forming the backbone of the system. It will stimulate economic growth for decades to come by better connecting communities across the country, while directly creating 30,000 jobs during construction.