Digital Railway

Modernising Britain’s railway to benefit passengers and support economic growth.

Since the mid-1990s the number of passengers using Britain’s railway has doubled. At peak times on the busiest parts of the network, Britain’s railway is full.

New capacity is urgently required to meet the continued rise in demand which will mean there will be an extra one billion journeys by the mid-2030s. Conventional ways of providing this capacity by building new railway infrastructure would be hugely disruptive, very high cost and probably unachievable.

The adoption of digital technologies, along with targeted conventional interventions, is a cost-effective way of releasing significant additional capacity on the existing network, as has been proven on London Underground.

What’s the Digital Railway programme?

The rail industry’s plan to transform the rail network for passengers, business and freight operators by deploying modern signalling and train control technology to increase capacity, reduce delays, enhance safety and drive down costs.

Digital train technology

The following short video explains how replacing traditional lineside train signals with modern technology will increase capacity, improve performance and enhance safety.