Increase in population, overcrowding, congestion. All problems that face modern day Britain, all issues that aren’t set to disappear anytime soon. So how can they be overcome, and how will transport networks cope? The obvious thing that people think of are significant infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and HS2, which will undoubtedly help with capacity. However, there’s also major, ground-breaking improvements that can be made to the existing network which can go a long way to supporting this too. Step forward Network Rail’s new initiative – The Digital Railway.
Delivering the Digital Railway will be the cheapest option for increasing capacity in the railway by up to 40%. Rather than always looking to adding extra lines, like Crossrail 2, many are now switching attention to seeing how we can make the most of what we have already. Digitising signalling systems would ultimately transform the way the network is handled and would set the standard for other countries to follow suit, with Mark Carne believing that by “transforming the way in which we control the trains on the track, we can run many more trains on the existing network and thus partly help to meet increasing capacity.” Although funding from CP5 has already been distributed, it’s by no means unrealistic that much of the work for this project couldn’t be achieved in CP6 or CP7. Today’s network is serving more passengers than ever at lower cost to the taxpayer. But with demand for extra journeys set to rise dramatically in the years ahead, businesses need to have better access to the suppliers, talent and markets they need to innovate, attract investment, and drive growth It isn’t just the signalling side of things that is being digitalised. The programme also includes the much greater use of digital technology for customer-facing applications and for the management of Network Rail’s assets. The customer journey will have benefits such as electronic ticketing, fast and reliable phone data, less crowding through intelligent traffic flow, and digital routes to guide customer’s to the right place quicker for connecting trains. .
Better Connections
Greater
Reliability
More Trains