
One third of the 58 railway enhancement schemes that the government committed to in its £10bn Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) have not progressed in the last 3 years.
The RNEP was initially set up by the Department for Transport (DfT) and was responsible for setting out a rolling programme of enhancement, improvement and investment into the UK’s rail network. In Control Period 6 (2019-2024) the RENP promised £10.4bn of funding to go towards 58 schemes, but by 2020 this funding was cut to £9.4bn. The reason for the cut was that not all the schemes would be started with the given timeframe. At the time is still was not clear which of the 58 schemes had been delayed or cancelled. The DfT said that the RNEP would be updated annually to indicate progress on the projects whilst also bringing new projects into the plan.
21st October 22 marks 3 years without any updates to the RNEP programme and this week the permanent secretary Dame Bernadette Kelly actually admitted that there is no schedule for publishing the new RNEP. The Rail Industry Association has been continually banging on Governments door asking them to provide certainty for the industry’s future, but this has been to no avail. So, RIA have now published their own update and has collected information on the 58 schemes that were committed in the DfT’s 2019 edition and designated them a colour rating dependent on their status.
Out of the 58 Schemes RIA has established:
- 18 are green: These schemes are complete, under construction or there is public information confirming that the project will be delivered
- 21 are amber: Public information suggest project development is progressing for these schemes, but there is not yet certainty they will be delivered. In practice this usually means that the project is progressing towards a strategic outline business case or an outline business case
- 19 are red: There is no information about the status of these schemes or there is a large amount of uncertainty over whether it is progressing (N.B. RIA has not identified any projects that have been formally cancelled)
Included in RIA’s red category are many much-needed capacity upgrades. These include the Watford Junction capacity upgrade, Thames Valley Corridor capacity programme, the Robin Hood Line extension, Leamington to Coventry capacity enhancement, Solihull Corridor capacity and Woking Area capacity enhancement.
RIA has only found evidence of funding for one of the red schemes: £13.1M for developing design options for the Ely Area capacity enhancement. RIA reports that Network Rail has confirmed that it submitted an outline business case for the scheme in March this year but will not find out if it will be funded until the RNEP is updated.
The progress update also highlights that many rail projects that weren’t in the RNEP are now concerns for the industry. This includes major projects like Gatwick station, Midland Mainline Electrification phase 3 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, which are all at different stages of progress; some under construction and others completely uncertain. It also notes that more than 40 Restoring Your Railway schemes have kicked off since the RNEP was updated, with the majority currently developing their business cases.
You can find out more by going to https://www.riagb.org.uk/RIA/Newsroom/Stories/Show_us_the_Rail_Enhancements.aspx
Ultimately, this uncertainty is holding back the supply sector’s potential to deliver both economic growth around the UK and also improvements for passengers and freight customers, key objectives for the government.
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