Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, has announced the Department for Transport”s (DfT) 30-year plan for the future of UK rail today (24 July).
The white paper, entitled Delivering a Sustainable Railway, reveals proposals to increase capacity and cope with a 20% rise in passenger figures in the next seven years by investing more than ”10bn ($20.6bn) from 2009-2014. It also promises to improve punctuality from 88% to 92.6% and reduce delays of 30 minutes or more by 25%.
”Passengers want not only greater capacity and reliability on their trains but also more modern stations, simple and efficient ticketing, better quality of service and value for money. They”re right to be so demanding and this strategy can deliver what they want,” said Kelly.
An additional 1,300 carriages are to be provided across the country on routes most in need of them, with more than 300 slated for cities undergoing rapid growth such as Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds and Manchester.
Network Rail will be awarded ”425m for track and station works at Reading to ease the bottleneck that currently restricts capacity on a number of routes, including the Great Western Main Line.
A further ”120m will be spent on improvements to Birmingham New Street, with work set to begin in 2009. Additionally, ”150m is to be invested in refurbishments to 150 stations across the country, focussing on medium-sized locations that are run down and lack basic facilities.
Kelly also promised a simplified fares structure, issuing just four types of ticket ” Anytime, Off-Peak, Super Off-Peak and Advance ” to give greater clarity to passengers. Smartcards are to be introduced in all major cities and inter-city fares will be available for purchase via a mobile phone by 2014.
A longer term investment will be made to the Thameslink Programme, which will see 12-carriage trains running through central London at a frequency of more than 24 services per hour by the end of 2015 and greatly enhanced capacity by 2011.
Other initiatives beyond 2014 could include improvements to east-west travel in London with the introduction of Crossrail, as well as enhancements to East Coast and Great Western main lines and modern signalling systems across the network.
Consumer rail watchdog, Passenger Focus, was pleased with the proposals. ”The Government”s aim of 92.6% of trains arriving on time is a step in the right direction,” said CEO, Anthony Smith, adding: ”We welcome commitments to address crowding which is a serious issue for commuters and we will be monitoring whether these measures will be enough to cope with the 30% growth predicted for the railway by 2016.”