Railtrack plc

Railtrack to spend four million pounds a day to create a railway “second to none”
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date 20 February 1997
source Railtrack plc
type Press release

Railtrack will be spending over £4 million every day for the next 10 years on infrastructure expenditure that will ultimately provide "a railway that is second to none."

Publishing its second Network Management Statement today, Railtrack chairman Sir Robert Horton said it marked "a new dynamic phase in the regeneration of the nation's railway system."

Now free of public sector financial constraints and able to "plan ahead with confidence", Railtrack will be spending £5.7 billion on day-to-day maintenance, £8.3 billion on renewal investment and £1.9 billion on network enhancements over the 10 year period.

With the privatised freight and passenger train companies bringing "fresh ideas and aspirations for the development of railway services" and with integration with key suppliers, Railtrack will deliver efficiency savings and improve the quality of the network "by the exploitation of advances in technology and modern operational methods."

"We have a duty to spend these large sums wisely," said Sir Robert. "Railtrack is committed to playing its pivotal role in building a modern, safe and efficient railway network. Ten years from now Britain will have a railway that is second to none - both in the quality of its infrastructure and in the dependability of its train service," he added.

Organisational changes, implemented to speed up delivery of the £760 million programme to address the inherited backlog of maintenance and renewals at 2,360 stations and 87 depots is now in place. A programme of 26 major renewal and enhancement projects, each costing over £25 million, has been drawn up and more than 30 enhancement schemes to bring more freight on to the rail network, are also being considered.

In addition, the £1.4 billion West Coast Main Line route modernisation programme is an essential part of Railtrack's investment plans.

Against the background of privatisation, Railtrack has already achieved "encouraging improvements" in train operating performance, while embarking upon an extensive investment programme and implementing structural changes to the organisation to increase efficiency.

"Now that flotation is complete, Railtrack is free to commit all its energies to providing tangible benefits for its customers, the passenger and freight operators, and their customers, the railway passengers and freight shippers," said Sir Robert.

"This Network Management Statement reflects the views of our customers and industry partners whose input is essential to the relevance and value of our investment plans," he said. "We are vitally interested in encouraging that dialogue in the coming year."

The Statement, concluded Sir Robert, charted the way in which Railtrack will manage the network to create the capacity to meet future demand for services and "with our industry partners, build a modern, safe and efficient railway - the heart of the nation's public transport system in the 21st century."

Railhub Archive ::: 1997-02-20 RTK-001