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Memorandum from Network Rail
Introduction
1. Network Rail is a ''not for dividend'' company that owns and operates the rail infrastructure of Great Britain. Our purpose is to deliver a safe, reliable and efficient railway for Britain. Any profits made are re-invested in the railway.
2. As a company limited by guarantee, we are a private company operating as a commercial business. We are directly accountable to our Members and regulated by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). The Network Rail Board manages the company to the standards required of a publicly listed company (plc). We produce an Annual Report & Accounts and hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM). We publish a Business Plan each year. The ORR sets the level of charges and government funding for the company over a five year period (the Control Period) and every five years a Strategic Business Plan is produced which sets out the company's strategic objectives within each Control Period.
3. The company's obligations comprise of the Operation, Maintenance and Renewal of the railway infrastructure (OMR). From 2005 onwards, Network Rail also assumed the responsibility of enhancing the national railway network.
4. Network Rail's customers are the Train and Freight Operating Companies (TOCs and FOCs) who run the country's train services. Network Rail grants rights to TOCs and FOCs to use its infrastructure through Track Access Contracts approved by the ORR. The Track Access Contracts incorporate national access conditions, confirm agreed pricing mechanisms for access to the network and provide procedures for dealing with changes to the network which seek to ensure that all users of the railway infrastructure are properly consulted and protected.
5. Network Rail employs more than 35,000 people and owns and maintains 21,000 miles of track across Great Britain. Network Rail's responsibilities range from regular daily maintenance routines to large scale engineering projects costing hundreds of millions of pounds that improve and upgrade the track and railway network.
6. 25,000 trains move around Britain's railway network every day. Network Rail is responsible for all of the signalling and electrical control equipment needed to operate the railway network. Network Rail owns over 2,500 stations, the majority of which are leased to and managed by the TOCs.
Network Rail in the South West
7. Network Rail operates approximately 550 route miles of track in the south West and owns 127 stations.
8. The overall operations management of the rail network in the south west is controlled from the new Integrated Control Centre in Western House, Swindon.
9. Signalling is controlled through six panel signal boxes (in Swindon, Gloucester, Bristol, Westbury, Exeter and Plymouth) and also via a number of mechanical signal boxes, most of which are located in Cornwall.
Current passenger services in the South West
10. The passenger train service structure can be broken down into distinct groups, which integrate at varying locations throughout the south west.
11. CrossCountry operates long distance services between the south West and the Midlands and the north and Scotland;
12. First Great Western (FGW) operates interurban services evenly divided between 13. London Paddington and the south Cotswolds, the greater Bristol area, and the far west of England;
14. FGW also operates a structured cross-Bristol network and incorporates services between: § Worcester/ Cheltenham and Westbury/ Weymouth/ Southampton; § Bristol Parkway and Weston-super-Mare; § Cardiff and Taunton; § Cardiff and Portsmouth; and § Bristol Temple Meads and Severn Beach
15. FGW also operates a cross-Exeter network, which includes services between: § Exmouth and Barnstaple; and § Exmouth and Paignton
16. FGW also operates local services on the Devon and Cornwall branches: § Plymouth to Gunnislake; § Liskeard to Looe; § Par to Newquay; § Truro - Falmouth; and § St Erth to St Ives
17. South West Trains operates services between London Waterloo and Exeter (via Salisbury)
18. Community Rail Partnerships are instrumental in the development of local services.
Current rail freight in the South West
19. Rail freight services are mainly operated by DB Schenker, Freightliner Group and Direct Rail Services.
20. Rail freight in the south west is mainly dominated by aggregates traffic from the Mendips to London area terminals and others to the south and east of London.
21. Automotive manufacturing is centred on Swindon (Honda). Train loads of export cars run via the Channel Tunnel. A relatively new rail terminal at Swindon handles imported steel for car manufacturing. The import market is mainly based on the Port of Bristol's Portbury and Avonmouth docks.
22. The Port of Bristol's Avonmouth and Portbury terminals handle in the region of 6 million tonnes per year of imported coal destined for power stations at Didcot, Aberthaw and the west Midlands.
23. Nuclear traffic moves between and Berkeley power station and Bridgwater for Hinkley Point power station to the North West.
24. Train loads of containerised waste traffic to a landfill site in Buckinghamshire originate from Bath and Bristol. However, this traffic is declining due to the increase of localised domestic recycling.
25. Cornwall generates china clay traffic mainly for export through the port of Fowey, but with some longer distance traffic also. Cement traffic from Hope (Peak District) runs to Moorswater on the Looe branch
Performance
26. In the short period, since 2002, that Network Rail has owned and operated the railway we have made significant headway and delivered many improvements. We are improving safety as well as reducing running costs though efficiency savings. By bringing all maintenance activity in-house, during October 2003, we have delivered huge efficiencies. This has all been re-invested into the railway and has helped contribute to significant performance improvements across the south West.
27. For the year ended 27 July 2009, 93.9% of First Great Western trains arrived on time a 9.5% improvement on the previous 12 months and 91.3% of CrossCountry trains ran to time a 3.5% improvement for the same period.
28. All these improvements have been delivered against the background of growing passenger and freight demand. Britain's railway is now busier than it has been for sixty years and is the fastest growing railway in Europe. Passenger numbers are up by over 40 per cent in the last 10 years; freight is up by nearly 60 per cent. As a consequence the network is increasingly congested and, at peak times, there is no spare capacity on certain sections.
29. With demand for rail forecasted to grow, the challenge now is to introduce more capacity, reduce congestion and help reduce overcrowding.
Recent Investment
30. Over the last five years considerable investment has been made by Network Rail and third parties to enhance the rail network in the south West. These include:
§ Platform 4 at Swindon station § Capacity upgrade for the western approaches to Swindon station § An additional platform at Bristol Parkway § Taunton Relief Line capacity upgrade § Burnullow - Probus redoubling § Falmouth line capacity upgrade
Investing in Future Growth
31. Between April 2009 and March 2014, Network Rail will carry out £2.44bn worth of enhancement work, with £1.73bn funded by Network Rail. The remaining £713m will be financed by other stakeholders, such as the Department for Transport, Transport Scotland, Welsh Assembly Government, Passenger Transport Executives, local authorities, port authorities, train operators and freight groups.
32. With demand for services in the south west forecast to grow significantly over the next 20 years, Network Rail's challenge is to continue investing to maintain reliable links and to develop capacity on the key routes serving the region.
33. A number of schemes are planned and already underway to relieve current capacity issues, which impact on the region's rail infrastructure and deliver improved infrastructure reliability and performance, including:
§ Cardiff Area Signalling Renewal & Enhancements - Scheduled completion 2014 benefits all service groups running through the Cardiff area including passenger and freight services to the south West.
§ Newport Area Signalling Renewal - Scheduled completion October 2010; benefits all service groups running through the Newport area including passenger and freight services to the south West
§ Severn Tunnel Junction to Newport Relief Linespeed Enhancements -Scheduled completion 2010; benefits to South Wales to London, South Wales to South Coast and South Wales to West Country services and all freight services
§ Reading Station Area Redevelopment - Scheduled completion by 2016; benefits all west of England to London services
§ Westerleigh Junction - Barnt Green line speed increase - Scheduled completion by December 2012 will deliver improved performance and journey time reductions between Bristol and Birmingham and is part of a programme of works to improve connectivity between the south West and the Midlands, north and Scotland.
§ Bath Spa
Area Capacity Upgrade - Scheduled completion by March 2011 will
deliver a capacity improvement on the route from
§ Intercity Express Programme (IEP) - A new fleet of bi-mode (diesel and electric powered) and diesel powered Super Express trains delivering shorter journey times and greater seating capacity compared with the High Speed Trains they will replace from 2016 onwards.
Partnership working
34. Network Rail continues to work in partnership with the Government Office of the South West (GOSW), South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), South West Councils and the West of England Partnership (WoEP) in developing the rail network to meet forecast growth and government's Delivering a Sustainable Transport System (DaSTS) connectivity requirements. This includes projects such as the WoEP, Bristol 'metro' initiative for a half-hourly cross-city rail network linking the northern corridor to Yate and Severn Beach, the eastern corridor to Bath and Chippenham, the south eastern corridor towards Trowbridge and Westbury and the south western corridor towards Weston-super-Mare and Taunton.
Great
35. The Great Western RUS will set out the strategic vision for the future of the rail network in south west, and is being developed following a now well-established process, including extensive stakeholder involvement.
36. Work started on this RUS in March 2008 and the draft for Consultation will be published on September 2009. A three-month consultation period follows and the final document will be published in spring 2010.
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