Cambridgeshire: £2.2 Billion Improving Train Lines

31 March 2014, 06:42 | Updated: 31 March 2014, 06:44

£2.2 billion will be spent, improving the rail network, across East Anglia, over five years.

This programme is part of Network Rail's overall £38bn investment in Britain's rail network, making a very real difference to millions of people's lives and providing a significant boost to the economy.

Over the next five years, Network Rail's Anglia route team will tackle bottlenecks, rebuild junctions, upgrade signals and renew ageing infrastructure, delivering more reliable services for passengers and freight.

Today, more than 1.5bn passenger journeys are made by rail each year. The continued growth in the popularity of rail travel means that by the end of the decade the industry will need to cater for an additional 225m journeys and a 30% increase in freight.

Passenger numbers have increased and will continue for London Overground, Abellio Greater Anglia has seen overall passenger growth on its network from 105.8m journeys in 2010 to 124.4m journeys in 2013, whilst this year 37.829m passengers used c2c services compared to 35.027m back in 2010.

Key projects over the next five years include:-

-Completion of Crossrail will transform commuter services between Shenfield and London Liverpool Street, and a new Crossrail station at London Liverpool Street

-Rebuild Bow Junction creating more space for trains to arrive and leave from London Liverpool Street

-Complete upgrading overhead power lines on the Great Eastern Main Line between Liverpool Street and Chelmsford and Southend

-Replace ageing tracks around Colchester and extend platform 6 to improve day to day services. Phase two of track and points renewal starts in 2015

-Continue improving safety at level crossings, close level crossings where possible as well as investing in new technology

-Rebuild Ely Junction North relieving congestion between Norwich and Cambridge on the West Anglia line

-A new rail operating centre (ROC) will open in Romford, controlling the entire railway in the Anglia region covering parts of London, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire

-The Thameslink programme will provide more passengers from Cambridge with new trains and access to more direct services to the south coast

Richard Schofield, route managing director said:" The railway in East Anglia is getting busier and passenger numbers are growing year on year. Our response now is to meet the demands placed by the travelling public to deliver more reliable journeys and a safer railway for everyone.

"By 2019, we will have a new station for Crossrail at Liverpool Street, rebuilt key junctions, renewed overhead power lines and upgraded signalling. Over the next five years, we will work tirelessly to deliver real improvements and bring ageing parts of the network into the 21st century. Finally, this vital investment will support and encourage economic growth across the East of England."