R A I LT R AC K - The Railways Archive

executive summary
We are now committed
to a major upgrade of
the East Coast Main
Line between London,
Yorkshire and
Edinburgh at an
estimated total cost
of around £1bn
8
What the plans involve
Our plans comprise the following elements,each of which are associated with a range of deliverable outputs.They are:
Sustaining the network Ten-year total ( £b n) 1 9 9 9 / 2 0 0 0 – 2 0 0 8 / 0 9
Maintenance and renewal expenditure 16.4
Commitments to developing the network
New schemes from last year’s NMS 1.8
New commercial projects 1.4
New partnership schemes requiring some funder support 3.6
Contractor schemes undertaken on behalf of the Strategic Rail Authority
or Passenger Transport Executives (including station improvements) 2.7
Other enhancement 1.2
Total enhancement spend over ten years 10.7
Total network investment 27.1
These plans compare with the £17bn (ten year) investment plan set out in the 1998 NMS.
Among major commercial projects to which we are now committed is a major upgrade of the East Coast Main Line between
London, Yorkshire and Edinburgh, at an estimated total cost of around £1bn. This provides increased capacity to meet
passenger and freight growth, allows for the operation of tilting trains and offers significant reductions in journey times.
Railtrack is willing to take demand risk and sell the additional paths created, on a commercial basis.
In London, in addition to the Thameslink 2000 project, we will develop a new direct southern access to Heathrow
Airport to further increase the quality of rail access to our major international airport.We are also proposing integration of
the subsurface lines of the London Underground with the surface lines which would allow, for the first time, through services
from Heathrow to the City.
Our commitments include plans to relieve all of the 30 capacity bottlenecks identified in the 1998 Network
Management Statement.Of these, 11 are already being implemented either through capital or timetabling solutions.We make
firm commitments on 13 more, including three as part of the East Coast Main Line project. Proposals are included for the
remainder to which Railtrack is willing to commit to partnership-based solutions.
Our plans include a whole range of improvements across the network – the provision of new stations,disabled access
facilities, improved airport links, new metro services and additional capacity. We will upgrade our stock of 2,500 stations to
ensure they meet customer aspirations for the 21st century.
We have included a chapter which outlines our plans and commitments on freight where we expect to be able to meet
our customers’ forecast freight figures for the next five years without major new investment. For the longer term, we are
looking to develop a third major route between London and Scotland and to raise the loading gauge on a network of key
routes.We have also submitted a funding proposal to the Department of the Environment,Transport and the Regions (DETR)
to clear two routes between the Channel Tunnel and London to handle higher gauge traffic. S p e c i fic chapters deal with our
plans and commitments to develop the rail netwo rk in London, Scotland and Wa l e s .