We’ve teamed up with train operators in some of our regions to launch local railway units. Local track and train teams are brought together to work as one unit – sharing local knowledge and ideas to improve your journeys.
Bringing track and trains together
The local railway model works by empowering local teams – particularly front-line workers – from Network Rail and train operators to work better together. Acting as one local railway unit helps us share ideas and challenges with each other across traditional organisational boundaries. We can then work together to make improvements to the railway at a local level.
Chris Pearce, a value management director at Network Rail, said: “The railway is a system and it’s vital that the different parts of that system work together towards common goals. That’s why we’ve decided to bring track and train together at a local level, because it’s the local teams who often have the ideas and solutions to make the service better for customers.
“By empowering local teams and working as one, we can deliver a simpler and better railway.”
Devon and Cornwall
We first began trialing the scheme in the Devon and Cornwall region in early 2022.
Our local track team worked together with train operator Great Western Railway and other local partners to make several improvements. It’s already led to £3m of overall savings between summer 2022 and summer 2024 thanks to some brilliant innovations.
An innovative app
For example, the local unit created a new digital app that helps us run trains more reliably. The Track Quality App allows train drivers for the first time to communicate directly with our engineers whenever they come across issues on the track.
Having track issues – big and small – reported directly to our engineers has helped us maintain our track better. We’re now able to investigate and treat track faults quicker and earlier, before they affect your trains. In fact, by the end of 2024, it had led to a 75% decrease in delay-causing incidents due to track faults. It’s also helped us improve services, with a 23% improvement in performance on the North Devon Line.
Some of our other regions and train operators have begun using the app as well – further improving the way we manage track across our railway.
Cambrian line
The local railway scheme for the Cambrian line in mid-Wales began in early 2023. We teamed up with train operator Transport for Wales and other local bodies to improve some of the very specific challenges the line faces.
In fact, the partnership has led us to reintroduce the four-car-train on the Cambrian line for the first time in six years.
Since August 2023, longer trains run on two peak services in the summer months when demand for these journeys is much higher than usual. The trains reduce overcrowding and help make your journeys more comfortable. They also allow for onboard catering for the first time in a decade – improving your experience further. They’ve even helped the local economy, boosting trade, tourism and revenue from ticket sales.
This new way of working has help saved us over £500,000 of efficiencies between 2023 and 2024.
And we’re not done yet.
A bright future
We’ve since set up three more local railway scheme: in West Wales in March 2024, the West Country in October 2024 and North Wales in autumn 2024. And we have plans for more.
Heledd Walters, a programme manager at Network Rail, said: “It’s a really exciting to be working in a local railway business unit, it’s all about working with the people who know their railway best so we can deliver better railway service for the people who use our railways.”
