1. North Wales Main Line - linespeed increase
delivers top speed of 90 mph in North Wales for first time
Partnership funding
£500k Welsh Assembly, circa £1m Railtrack
Major investment in track, signalling , telecomms
Journey time improvements
Starts summer timetable 2001 – subject to HMRI approval 1

2. Railtrack investment in North Wales
Second (ORR) control period
Year £M
2001/
2002/
2003/
2004/
2005/

3. The following slide is an example of Railtrack’s “modern facilities at stations” programme

4. Proposed property work for North Wales
Llandudno Junction
Key:- V
P.A.
CCTV
Colwyn Bay
CIS V
Waiting rooms
Abergele & Pensarn
Shelters
Toilets
WCML work
Rhyl V
Other enhancement V
Virgin enhancement
Prestatyn V
Telecomms renewals
Maintenance work
Extract of
Route 12
Flint V
Existing facility
Shotton V

5. West Coast Main Line (WCML)
WCML – busiest rail artery in the UK
£6.3 billion investment over the next five years
Last upgraded 40 years ago
Will run trains at up to 140mph
Double the number of trains per hour from Euston to Midlands, North West, North Wales and Scotland

6. Europe's busiest mixed traffic railway
2000 passenger and freight trains each day
trains pathed across route daily
120 train sets
114 stations, inc. 5 major stations
10000 bridge spans
Holyhead
Liverpool
Glasgow
Birmingham
Chester
Wolves
London
Euston
Rugby
Crewe
Preston
Northampton
641 route miles
1660 track miles
13 major junctions
Edinburgh
Manchester
15 TOCs/FOCs
15% of total revenue
TENS route
65 signal boxes
133 interlockings
2825 signals and 2625 points

7. Progress update A very productive year for the whole programme
Work completed
Proof House
Euston
Ditton
Willesden
TWA inquiry launch
Work in progress
Line of route track and overhead line equipment
South Manchester
North Staffs
Line speed enhancement & TPWS

8. Targets and journey time
1hr 59mins
From June mph railway
2hrs 26mins
From January 2002
Indicative Journey Times
Euston - Crewe
New train introduction 2003
Will drastically reduce journey times
to/from North Wales
First trains on test
77 news trains built
New safety systems will be fitted