THE Integrated Rail Plan is a “huge opportunity for the railway to deliver transformational change”, said Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines in a briefing to the railway press on February 3. “But we should not underestimate there is a huge amount to do.”
Mr Haines believes that negative comments in the mainstream press about the Government’s recent announcement of a £96 billion investment in Britain’s railways have done a disservice with the Treasury at a time when the economics of the railways are really challenging.