Britain's railways will get £14 million a day for the next five years in a bid to improve train services.

Forum Response: Construction Products Association

Chris Bennett, external affairs executive at the Construction Products Association commented: “In its 2004 Business Plan, Network Rail has set what look to be robust targets for the next five years to deliver major improvements to the rail network both in terms of enhancing the network and improving the condition of the existing infrastructure.

“Network Rail has illustrated the huge scale of the work ahead of them: 13.5 million tonnes of ballast, an average of one and a half miles of track laid every day and enough sleepers to reach Australia. To be able to supply such huge quantities of materials, construction products manufacturers and suppliers need clear indication of the planned outputs for each year over the medium to long term so that they can drive up capacity to be able to deliver. Network Rail’s Business Plan is an important step towards providing that information.

“The Association remains concerned that with its current funding Network Rail believes that it will not be able to address the full backlog in renewals across the network. Many of the parts of the network which are likely to be neglected are important freight routes which risk becoming yet more unreliable, putting yet more freight onto the roads.”

Forum Response: Association of Train Operating Companies

George Muir ATOC Director General  said: “Train operators welcome the broad thrust of Network Rail’s Business Plan for 2004 – the strong investment programme making every penny count; the big and sustained increase in track renewals; and the commitment of its management team and staff in tackling the backlog of renewals built up over the past 12 years.

“While we’re pleased with the objective of delivering pre-Hatfield levels of punctuality by 2006, we want to see even higher levels consistently achieved and on a sustained basis.  It’s what the passengers want and deserve.  Train operators will work together with Network Rail to achieve this.”