IIRC these are the renewals plans, not the enhancements. How much money will be available for any of those remains to be seen!
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Network Rail CP7 Plans
- Thread starter LNW-GW Joint
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LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
It's a curiosity that a massive resignalling project with new technology is considered a "renewal" while electrification is an "enhancement".
In some cases they go together (eg for TRU).
I guess resignalling is considered renewing an existing and life-expired asset, without which the railway cannot run.
Indeed - what has happened to the old "Enhancement Delivery Plans" that used to be produced?
The Planner
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Its a renewal if it just delivers the same capability that it is there now as part of life expiry, if you get something for free as part of it then its a bonus. If its a resignalling to deliver a required trains service spec or timetable, then its normally an enhancement. Electrification is clearly an enhancement, the same way as if any contact wire needs fixing its a renewal.
InTheEastMids
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The railway is clearly "special" when it comes to these things.
The investment/"enhancements" plans of other utilities are usually agreed with the regulator and published in advance of the regulatory period beginning.
If, for example, National Grid were to fail to publish its investment plans in this way, it would probably be in breach of its license. It'd be a major failure.
Network Rail's failure to publish an enhancements plan suggests either
1. NWR has not finalised its plan, and is still trying to trim the list to a set of affordable enhancements
2. NWR has finalised its plan, but has not been given permission to publish it
If the answer were (1), then ORR, DfT and Harper would probably be demanding heads must roll at NWR, as failing to get the plan sorted would be a major failure of leadership.
So if the answer's 2 (as I think), then the failure to publish, combined with a lack of political stink tells me it's a political choice.
And other than a few industry journos like Roger Ford, this has not - as far as I can tell - been picked up by the wider media (which also shows how poorly understood these kinds of regulated industries are by them).
Aren't all the likely enhancements until at least 2040 simply those listed in the Integrated Rail Plan? Is there funding available for anything else?
The Strategic Business Plan for the Southern Region (2024-2029) said that there would be no enhancements in CP7. Page 9 says:
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LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
The IRP was, IIRC, a plan for the Midlands and North of England only, written in the expectation that HS2 would reach Manchester and the East Midlands.
Enhancements elsewhere were not considered, and in any case the IRP is now discredited until reissued to reflect the current HS2/Network North policy.
...or are assumed to not be worthy of consideration because all of the likely funding until 2040 is allocated. It isn't clear that it can be assumed that there will be material enhancements outside the scope of HS2 / IRP / Network North in that period, although the Wales and Western Strategic Plan isn't as clear on the matter as the Southern one I quoted.
GRALISTAIR
Established Member
And in all probability a change in government.
Enhancement plans were removed from NR some years ago, the DfT is responsible now, and they specify chosen enhancements as discrete items rather than having a five year programme. Apparently that is a better idea
In 2018, a year before the start of CP6. the government announced that it would publish annual updates on the contents of a new rail enhancements pipeline:
In autumn 2019 it published the first update:
No further updates have been published since.
Some time ago, maybe a year, one of the transport ministers said that "people" (presumably ministers, and perhaps Boris Johnson when PM) had been putting too many schemes in the pipeline, and it would be reviewed, thinned out, and then published. It has not happened, but since then we've had Sunak cancelling most of what remained of HS2 and inventing Network North in its place.
Network Rail's own Enhancements Delivery Plans are separate. For England and Wales one was published in 2022 (I can't immediately find a link) and one in 2023:
For Scotland, there was this one in 2022:
They haven't published an update since - perhaps they're too embarrassed because so many schemes are behind the schedule given in 2022.
Too many links to long documents for me to give meaningful quotes.
In autumn 2019 it published the first update:
No further updates have been published since.
Some time ago, maybe a year, one of the transport ministers said that "people" (presumably ministers, and perhaps Boris Johnson when PM) had been putting too many schemes in the pipeline, and it would be reviewed, thinned out, and then published. It has not happened, but since then we've had Sunak cancelling most of what remained of HS2 and inventing Network North in its place.
Network Rail's own Enhancements Delivery Plans are separate. For England and Wales one was published in 2022 (I can't immediately find a link) and one in 2023:
For Scotland, there was this one in 2022:
They haven't published an update since - perhaps they're too embarrassed because so many schemes are behind the schedule given in 2022.
Too many links to long documents for me to give meaningful quotes.
Class 170101
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The Rail Enhacement Pipline (RNEP?) was supposed to have been published ages ago, but ministers keep quoting the season it will be published in, and as Roger Ford says 'Don't Trust a Forecast Based on the Seasons'