NR: funding constraints to increase service delays

Network Rail expects infrastructure delays to increase over the five years from 2024 as it scales back renewals in England and Wales, despite record funding of £44 billion and its grant from government increasing by 7% to £27.7bn. 

Revealing its Strategic Business Plan for Control Period 7 (2024-29) on May 19, NR said: “We expect a decrease in asset reliability in CP7, given the way we have had to prioritise and allocate available funding to deliver our objectives.” 

This prioritisation will mean NR cutting renewals spending to £15.8bn from the £15.9bn it expects to spend in CP6 (2019-24). At the same time, it expects to increase maintenance spending from £9.4bn in CP6 to £9.8bn in CP7. 

Read this article in full in RAIL issue 984 here

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