£140m Elizabeth line upgrade plan to tackle disruption after delays and cancelled trains
Network Rail has announced an 'accelerated performance improvement plan' to address issues affecting the Elizabeth Line west of Paddington. Work to 'stabilise' the issues that have led to cancellations and delays - including passengers being left stuck in trains 'for hours' in December - will take place over the next six months, officials say.
The following 12 months will see 'longer term improvements' to the network to tackle the 'key causes of disruption', which will be followed by work towards 'sustaining and renewing the network '. Network Rail is allocating nearly £140 million of dedicated funds.
These will be from existing budgets with the majority (£104m) being set aside from Network Rail’s CP7 budgets from 2024 to 2029. No additional taxpayer funding has been requested.
It comes after the Mayor of London and Chair of Transport for London (TfL), Sadiq Khan, met with Network Rail, MTR and TfL yesterday (Monday, February 26) to 'discuss these recent issues on the network and the accelerated improvement plan in place to address them'.
Mr Khan said: Sadiq Khan said “The Elizabeth line has been transformational, seeing well over 4.5 million journeys every week, but it’s clear that the recent performance on the Elizabeth line has been below the high standards set when the railway was opened. I have been absolutely clear with Network Rail, MTR and TfL that the issues we have seen over the last six months are not acceptable.
"I am pleased that they have brought forward a comprehensive plan to resolve the problems on the line, and I will continue to hold them to account.”
TfL 'always warned' there was 'likely to be a slight reduction in performance' west of Paddington
This comes after MyLondon reported yesterday that the capital's flagship £19 billion railway may be in for infrastructure upgrades after more cash was made available. Appearing at the London Assembly's transport committee last week, TfL's commissioner, Andy Lord, said that TfL had always warned that there is 'likely to be a slight reduction in performance' when services started running west of Paddington because the infrastructure had not had 'any significant investment since the Heathrow Express was put into service'.
The overhead wire design, for example, is older compared to modern standards. Mr Lord added: "I'm pleased to say, as part of Network Rail's latest five year - I think it's five year, might be seven year - capital funding agreement with DfT and Treasury, they have funding now to invest in the Great Western line west of Paddington.
"[...] We are just waiting to get the detail from Andrew [Haines] and his team as to what that means in terms of infrastructure works, upgrades and that side of it."
In the meantime, the commissioner said, Network Rail has put 'short term measures' in place such as maintenance and 'improving their operational response'. Mr Lord, however, also noted that between February 12 and 18, the Elizabeth line recorded a 98 per cent on time performance.
Train software upgrade
Further, train software has been updated, which has fixed the 'top five' IT issues on line's stock. This will have a 'significant benefit' to journey times. Before today's announcement, MyLondon was made aware that Network Rail had not been given additional funding for improving performance.
Although, it was expected repurpose existing funds from within the business on improving train service in the Thames Valley.
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A spokesperson for the organisation said: “Train performance in the Thames Valley hasn’t been good enough, and we’re sorry to our passengers who haven’t been getting the reliable service they deserve.
"We’re taking an in-depth look at the key causes of delays and are developing actions, alongside independent industry experts, to address the decline in performance as a priority.”
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