Running an affordable railway remains our key financial focus. Achieving better cost efficiency enables us to invest more in enhancing the network. In the five years to March 2009 Network Rail reduced the cost of the railway by 28%, and in the next five years a further 21% efficiency savings will be delivered.
Efficiency Savings
We have already been making substantial efficiency savings through:
- Bringing rail maintenance in-house
- Improving the use of technology
- Managing projects better
- Renegotiating renewals contracts
- Controlling costs better.
Reducing costs does not mean that we are not investing in the track. On the contrary, since maintenance was brought in-house, Network Rail
has invested millions of pounds in:
- Upgrading depots to provide maintenance workers with better
facilities
- Improving physical access points, IT equipment, plant and small
tools
- Implementing a specific workforce safety campaign
- Opening new training centres to give technical training to maintenance employees, and management development for managers and
supervisors
- Developing apprentices at Gosport, the largest engineering training centre in Europe and railway engineering students at Sheffield
Hallam university.