History of Rail Transport in Great Britain 1995 To Date - Current Developments

Current Developments

The British railway system continues to be developed. Contemporary projects include:

• High Speed 1, a project to construct a 67 mile high-speed rail line from London to the British end of the Channel Tunnel, and involving a great deal of complex civil engineering including a 1404 yard bridge over the River Medway, a 2 mile tunnel under the Thames near Dartford, a 2 mile tunnel through the North Downs, 12 mile twin tunnels running into central London, a major new railway station extension to St Pancras Station in London, and a complex redesign and rebuild of the King's Cross St Pancras tube station. The southern phase 1 of the project opened in September 2003, and northern phase 2 opened in November 2007.
• The West Coast Main Line upgrade is a long-term project covering a series of technical aspects. Improvements include the four-tracking (from three) of the Trent Valley (a bypass of the West Midlands), redesigning the layout of several junction/station e.g. Rugby and other associated work to increase line speed. This culminated in tilting trains at 125 mph being extended to Glasgow in 2005. Work continues and the cost overruns of the programme are infamous - attributed to wide scope of programme (the promise to Virgin to build a 140 mph railway which would require moving bloc signalling) and poor project management by the defunct Railtrack.
• The Thameslink Programme, formerly known as 'Thameslink 2000' is underway as the government formally approves the project. The project includes the lengthening of platforms, station remodelling, new railway infrastructure (e.g. viaducts) and additional rolling stock, which will allow First Capital Connect to expand their Thameslink services further north and south.
• Scotland
  • The Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway, a rare 13 mile (21 km) extension to the network, to the north of the Firth of Forth in Scotland. A Bill for the railway was passed by the Scottish Parliament and received Royal Assent in August 2004. Work commenced in September 2005, with services running by Spring 2008. The line re-establishes a railway decommissioned in 1983; the new line will provide passenger connections to Glasgow, and freight links between the site of Kincardine power station, now used as a loading point for coal from open-cast sites, to avoid heavy traffic through Kincardine, and Longannet power station, and the coal terminals at Hunterston Deep Water Port. There has been recent doubt about the project as Longannet power station was due to close in 2015, and would have been operating for reduced hours before then, to meet emissions targets. However the present shortage of generating capacity has caused this to be reviewed, and full operation of the power station will continue. The passenger part of the scheme, from Stirling to Alloa was in any case secure, and the Scottish Parliament appear to be in favour of passenger services being extended to Rosyth, which is an important ferry terminal. This could possibly result in passenger stations serving the communities of Clackmannan, Kincardine, and Culross or Valleyfield, and through trains once more from Stirling to Dunfermline.
  • A short extension of the Glasgow-Hamilton-Motherwell, which once again links Larkhall to the railway network after 40 years. Larkhall has for some time been the largest town in Scotland without a railway station. The new £35m line follows an existing formation, and services to Larkhall railway station resumed on 12 December 2005. The new section of route is electrified and is served with trains from Dalmuir, via Glasgow Central Low Level, with connections from other northern suburbs of Glasgow such as Milngavie.
  • The Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link was completed in December 2010, work having started in June 2007. The Airdrie-Bathgate project was quite extensive insofar as it included double track electrification, the present remnant of the line from just outside Edinburgh to Bathgate having been largely singled some time ago.
  • The Glasgow Airport Rail Link was given the final go ahead by the Scottish Parliament in December 2006 but the project was scrapped by the new SNP minority government in September 2009. A new 1.5 mile spur was to be built onto the existing Inverclyde route. An element of the project that did go ahead was upgrading the Glasgow Central - Paisley line to triple track to increase capacity on the Ayrshire and Inverclyde routes. This work was completed in 2012.
  • A proposal for re-opening of the Waverley Route from Edinburgh to the Borders has been passed by the Scottish Parliament. This plan falls slightly short of what some people want, such as certain intermediate stations and longer passing loops, to allow more communities to be served while maintaining or improving the end to end timings.

• Wales
  • The Welsh Assembly Government re-opened the Vale of Glamorgan Line between Barry and Bridgend in 2005, re-opened the Ebbw Valley Line between Ebbw Vale and Cardiff and proposes to extend the line into Newport in the future. The Assembly Government is also looking into opening the Hirwaun to Aberdare route in the Cynon Valley.