In the last five years, we’ve found innovative and better ways to work – bringing you a railway that’s better value for money.
It comes as we reach the end of our latest five-year budgeting and planning period, known in the industry as Control Period six.
Read about just some of the ways we’ve become more efficient in the past five years.
Smarter ways of working
We used new technologies to give you and freight a safer and smarter railway. Apps and drones helped us to survey, manage and upgrade our assets and land, and we electrified the railway at a sustainable cost.
Wherever possible, we found inventive ways to access our infrastructure, saving time, cost and minimising disruption to trains.
Our stations and infrastructure became more accessible and easier to maintain thanks to our teams building flat-pack bridges and ready-made tunnels in record time.
Meanwhile, we invested in sustainable materials to lower our carbon emissions. We also reduced the need for site access and the need to build more structures, making our approach even greener.
We simplified our Railway Standard to help teams work more efficiently, saving about £75m – all without affecting our high safety standards.
And we made further efficiencies by creating workspaces across our offices estate – and on the front line – at a lower, sustainable cost.
In fact, by embracing change and innovation, we’ve maintained, operated and renewed the railway in the last five years for £4bn less than it would have cost in 2019. This has allowed us to invest even more to give you and freight a better railway.
