East Anglian Rail Taskforce chairs’ statement on Network Rail

Speaking after the statement made to the House of Commons today about Network Rail, the co-chairs of the Great Eastern Mainline Taskforce (Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, and Mark Pendlington, Chairman, New Anglia LEP) have commented:

“We welcome that Network Rail is being held to account to work more reliably to upgrade infrastructure and carry out maintenance.  That is what passengers throughout East Anglia need.  The Secretary of State also reiterated his commitment today in the House of Commons to modern, faster trains on our line in the next franchise.  Thanks to the work of the GEML Taskforce, those are being procured right now.

“We have secured commitment at all levels to the recommendations of the GEML Taskforce, which will be delivered over ten years.  Today’s improvements to the governance of Network Rail do not change our intention to have the required upgrades done by means of the next franchise and the next Network Rail control period.  The behind-the-scenes work of the Taskforce continues with no change and we expect the new head of Network Rail to continue with the upgrades promised to East Anglia.”

The Taskforce’s key recommendations include:

·         New carriages – to be delivered in the next Anglia franchise, being procured currently by the DfT

·         Track improvements – to be delivered in CP5 and CP6 by Network Rail.

·         Together these allow for faster and more reliable journeys, as set out in http://www.newanglia.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Great-Eastern-Main-Line-Report-November-2014.pdf