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£18bn plan to put rail network back on track

Clayton Hirst
Sunday 30 March 2003 02:00 BST
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Network Rail, the successor to Railtrack, will tomorrow pledge to spend £18bn on Britain's creaking rail network and replace more than 3,000 miles of track over the next three years.

This will be the central plank of the company's business plan to be presented to the rail regulator and ministers. In it, Network Rail will claim that by next March passengers will see an improvement to the network. Much of the 10-volume business plan will focus on maintenance and renewals. It is understood Network Rail will propose the renegotiation of all its contracts with railway maintenance companies Jarvis, Balfour Beatty, Amey, Carillion and Amec.

On Thursday, Network Rail took over the upkeep of the Midland Mainline and other lines into Waterloo. Network Rail said this would allow it to understand maintenance issues more fully.

For the rest of the network, the company wants to strip its contractors of their responsibility for the lines. The so-called New Maintenance Plan is expected to involve the compulsory transfer of between 150 and 250 senior engineers from the contractors to Network Rail. The move will dismay the rail firms, which will see the value of their contracts fall after renegotiation. John Armitt, Network Rail's chief executive, is expected to claim that under Railtrack and before rail privatisation, investment in maintenance and track renewal was woeful.

Network Rail has already secured £9bn in loans. This summer it will refinance some of the debt through the bond market. It is relying on its regulator to allow an increase in track access charges to fund improvements.

Meanwhile, EWS, Britain's largest rail freight operator, will tomorrow announce plans to recruit 182 new train drivers and 143 ground staff this year. It is part of a plan to grow the business.

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