New funding for a more reliable and sustainable rail network
More than £1 billion of taxpayer funding will be used to replace outdated Victorian infrastructure with cutting-edge digital signalling technology.
One-third of the nation’s population live within 20 minutes of a station on the East Coast Main Line and, together, produce more than 40% of the UK’s GDP, making it one of the UK’s busiest rail routes while also playing a vital role in the prosperity of the nation’s economy.
The technology, which will be rolled out across the entire southern section of the line – from London’s King’s Cross to Stoke Tunnels, just south of Grantham – will mean faster, safer, and more regular trains for millions of people.
A week after union leaders brought much of the nation’s railway to a standstill with strikes, this investment is a key example of how the government wants to bring the industry into the 21st century.
Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps said:
The taxpayer funding will remove outdated lineside signalling and replace it with the European train control system (ETCS), which brings signalling into train drivers’ cabs and provides them with real-time, continuous information throughout their journey.
The new in-cab technology will create a more responsive, more resilient railway and, crucially for passengers, one that can recover quicker when journeys don’t go to plan. Most importantly, as the system will constantly monitor the train’s speed, it will also create a safer railway.
Toufic Machnouk, Director, Industry Partnership for Digital Railway, Network Rail, said:
As well as the many passenger benefits, the ECDP will deliver a much-needed financial boost to the industry and, over its lifetime, is 42% cheaper than the current system.
It will also help the government towards its net-zero goal by decreasing carbon emissions by 55,000 tonnes – the equivalent of more than 65,000 one-way flights from London to New York.
David Horne, Managing Director at London North Eastern Railway (LNER), said:
Tom Moran, Thameslink and Great Northern Managing Director, said:
The ECDP follows more than £350 million of prior taxpayer investment to fit other services on the route with the new technology, with over 80% of passenger rolling stock on the East Coast Mainline South already using the ETCS.
Network Rail will prioritise the request for a further investment of £427 million as part of the next control period settlement, bringing the overall investment to just under £2 billion.
Maggie Simpson OBE, Director General, Rail Freight Group, said: