2 – MAINTAINING AND SAFELY OPERATING SCOTLAND’S RAIL NETWORK

Intervention description

A.10 This intervention represents the day-to-day management and maintenance of the rail network, carried out by Network Rail in line with the requirements of the Scottish Ministers. The implementation of the existing maintenance regime is designed to provide effective protection of the asset base, and the opportunities for improvement in terms of maintenance and safe operation or of making better use of existing capacity are relatively limited.

Contribution towards the Scottish Government’s Purpose

A.11 The total rail assets in Scotland are approximately £5 billion. Network Rail receives more than £300 million of direct grant every year to manage the rail network and to maximise its capacity. The funding allocated to Network Rail is for the operation, maintenance and renewal of the rail infrastructure network. This work links directly to this first level of requirement for the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR) in maintaining and safely operating the network.

STPR objectives

Links to Other Strategies

A.12 The ongoing support for the Scottish rail network underlies the various plans for rail improvement schemes outlined in this report, and the role of rail in the National Transport Strategy (NTS), as outlined in ‘Scotland’s Railways’.

Scotland’s Railways

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Current Status of Project

A.13 This is an ongoing process, which is planned to continue throughout the STPR period. This work links directly to the first level of requirement for STPR in maintaining and safely operating the network.

Indicative Costs

A.14 Network Rail currently receives more than £300 million of direct grant every year to manage the rail network in Scotland and to maximise the potential for making use of the existing capacity. The total intervention will cost £3 billion, however this cost will be funded by the direct grant over ten years.

Deliverability

A.15 There would not be any significant technical or operational impacts on the delivery of this intervention, although much of the work involved in maintaining the network requires disruptive possessions to be taken, closing parts of the rail network while the necessary work is carried out safely.