Massive investment plans by Network Rail to upgrade the UK”s creaking rail infrastructure have been unveiled, at the same time as France continues to bask in its astonishing rail feat yesterday (3 April).
The injection of cash ” ”2.4bn ($4.74bn), only ”200m of which is genuinely new money ” has been earmarked for a raft of improvements that will see hundreds of platforms extended and added, new tracks laid, capacity increased and line speeds raised.
And the timing of the announcement was certainly not lost across the Channel, as the French proudly toasted their latest world-record TGV with Champagne, after it burst through 350mph (575kmh) in front of the world”s press.
Paris ” Strasbourg journey times could soon fall from 4h to 2h20min and railway operator SNCF, chief executive Guillaume Pepy, couldn”t resist a wry observation at his British counterparts, as he highlighted a fundamental difference in political attitude.
Speaking to journalists in France yesterday, Pepy is quoted: ”The train was invented in the UK but at a certain point of time, you forgot your own railway. It”s a fundamental question of politics; do you invest on a long-term basis? The TGV network could not exist if there was no long-term vision.”
The Brits have come back fighting however, maintaining that although France”s gleaming and undoubtedly swift flagship network is impressive, the rest of its operation leaves much to be desired. ”The French have a two-speed railway that is fantastic at high-speed, but has a rural network that is pretty shameful to be honest,” a Network Rail spokesman told ABTN.
”We are asked why we can”t run a TGV-like service on the West Coast Main Line, but it couldn”t possibly be done without huge amounts of taxpayer support. If the French government wants to build a high-speed link, they do it ” here we have planning.”
Network Rail concedes ”there is a business case” for building a high-speed north-south link but that the densely industrialised nature of the UK precludes a system based on the French model.
Nonetheless the cash, of which ”1.73bn is funded by Network Rail and the remaining ”713m from the Department for Transport, Transport Scotland, Welsh Assembly Government and freight groups among others, will be a welcome boost for the beleaguered system that has seen 40% passenger growth during the past ten years.
The investment news even received a guarded welcome from the RMT (Rail, Maritime, Transport) union, although in classic combative style, leader Bob Crow, urged Network Rail not to spend the money on ”bloated, PFI (Private Finance Initiative)-type contracts.”