As Control Period 6 (CP6) comes to a close on 31 March, Network Rail is taking a look back at the five-year funding period which started on 1 April 2019. During this time, the rail infrastructure manager has successfully delivered major rail upgrades across Great Britain to improve the railway for its passengers and freight users, while navigating unprecedented change inside and outside the railway.
Reflecting on the period, Chief Executive Andrew Haines, said: “The last five years has seen unprecedented change, not just at Network Rail, but across the world. Our railway kept essential workers and freight moving during the Covid pandemic, and of course we’re now faced with a different challenge – building passenger numbers back. We are doing that through putting passengers first and getting closer to our customers.
“We started that process right at the beginning of the period as Network Rail devolved into five regional business, themselves split into 14 routes, to better respond to, and work with, our train operating colleagues, the Welsh and Scottish Governments, combined and local authorities and funders. It put us in a strong position to respond to the enormous change that hit us with the pandemic, and gave us the flexibility to bounce back afterwards.
“Through those changes we delivered a safe and reliable railway for our passengers and freight customers throughout the pandemic, through the Queen’s platinum jubilee, her subsequent funeral and the King’s coronation, as well as for the Commonwealth Games and Eurovision.
“We also took control of costs when delivering upgrades and renewals – slashing the cost of electrification, with the Glasgow-Barrhead project, for example, delivered for under £64 million – and bringing in around £4 billion of efficiencies over the period. That’s a huge achievement and means we are able to begin Control Period 7 in a position to deliver far, far more for our money.
“Mixed with these successes, though, the period also sadly saw tragedy. We will never forget the tragic events at Carmont, Scotland, in August 2020. Following this, we have brought about a huge change in the way we approach managing and mitigating the impacts of extreme weather.
“Climate change is perhaps the biggest challenge we face and almost £3 billion of our Control Period 7 plan will go towards improving the resilience of our railway over the next five years.
“We also lost colleagues from Network Rail and our supply chain working on and around the railway, albeit at a much lower level than historically. We carry their memories with us as an example of how we can never be complacent and never stop trying to improve the way we work and make the railway safe.
“We began the control period with many working practices on tracks that would be familiar to our Victorian ancestors. We ended it having fundamentally changed the way we work, with a 99% reduction in putting workers out on the ‘live’ railway to act as lookouts. That change has come at significant cost and some short-term lost of productivity but it was the right thing to do.
“As CP6 draws to a close I also pay tribute to our enormous and diverse supply chain, from small SMEs to global players. We spend some £6 billion a year with our suppliers we require their help more than ever to create an efficient railway and spend tax and farepayers’ money as wisely as we can.”
With CP6 coming to an end, and around £4 billion of efficiencies successfully delivered, Network Rail is looking forward to its next five year period – CP7 – where it will be looking to tackle the challenges of improving train performance whilst wrestling with climate change.
Image credit: Network Rail
