Network Rail and their £37.5bn investment plan
From 2000 onward, rail users have seen season tickets going up by £1,300, train fares rising 20% faster than our wages and an increasingly shoddy service. In short, there is very little confidence in the trains, which means that there'll be just cynicism about the £37.5bn plan to develop the UK's railway infrastructure over five years by Network Rail.
The plan is that, up until 2019, we'll start seeing quicker journeys, 170,000 more peak-time commuter seats and better reliability. Nothing about cheaper fares there, you'll note.
There are plans to spend £600m on protecting tracks and bridges against floods and the adding of 1,000 miles of new electrified lines. £5bn will be spend on the network from London to Swansea, as well as congested areas like Reading and Greater Manchester.
Network Rail chief executive David Higgins told the BBC: "We have an amazing railway which is performing out of its socks, but it is still an old, Victorian railway which costs money to maintain because it is old and at a very, very high level of capacity, so getting access to the railway is really difficult.
"But we have made huge progress. The costs of maintaining and operating the railway in the 10-year period to 2014 have come down by 50%. We have to invest to save. We have to spend now to increase capacity, create a more resilient railway."
These plans will inevitably mean that fares are going to rise further, beyond inflation, which means that these improvement won't be enjoyed by the maximum number of people, who are increasingly being priced out of rail travel.
TOPICS: Travel
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