How Network Rail is working to get Wales on the right trackTwo women are at the heart of Network Rail's efforts to enhance Wales' rail infrastructure
Network Rail was caught up in a dispute this spring between the Welsh and UK▸ Governments about funding electrification of the Valleys linesWales^ railway network is getting busier. In the year 2011-12, the latest for which there are figures, a little over 28 million passenger journeys were recorded on trains running in, to or from Wales.
Surprisingly, this is 70% more than the equivalent number two decades ago, when 16 million people travelled the rails. In fact the number of passenger journeys has risen every year since 1999.
This growth in passenger journeys has gone hand in hand with a rise in the number of scheduled services that are being run. Wales^ principal train operating company, Arriva Trains Wales, has increased the number of timetabled kilometres on its services from 18.4 million in 2003-04 to 24.2 million in 2012-13.
Making this growth possible is the behind-the-scenes work of Network Rail, the company limited by guarantee which is responsible for Britain^s railway infrastructure. Network Rail is divided by geography into 10 ^routes^, intended to facilitate collaboration with the train operating companies (
TOCs▸ ) that operate franchises in different parts of the country.
In large part these routes reflect the history of Britain^s privately-driven creation of the railways in the 19th century. The eight routes in England look rather like badly carved cake slices, each radiating out from London in curious shapes, some small and stubby like Kent and Sussex, others long and narrow like London North Western.
Wales, like Scotland, has its own ^route^, reflecting the devolution of responsibility for the local rail franchises to the devolved administrations, In Wales^ case, responsibility for the Wales and Borders franchise, operated by Arriva, was transferred from Westminster to Cardiff in 2006.
Sarah Kendall is area director for Network Rail^s Wales route, set up a little over two years ago. Born in 1961, she has worked in the rail industry for 30 years, starting at British Rail and spending eight years at the Channel Tunnel.
^The special thing about Wales is that it had not historically been organised as a route,^ she said. ^The Western route has been around since Brunel was around, but the Wales route is very new because it^s brought together bits of the organisation that had traditionally been separate. North Wales had been managed with the London and North West area, South Wales with the Western. The Wales route brought those things together for the first time.^
Despite its name, the Wales route doesn^t cover just the railways within Wales but also the line through the Marches to Shrewsbury and Crewe.
Alexia Sambourne, 33, is route commercial manager for Wales, heading up the commercial team within the Wales route. Bristol-born, she has worked in Network Rail for 10 years, joining as a graduate.
^It^s part of our overall aim as a company to devolve more of our decision making a lot closer to our customers, in this case the train operating companies (TOCs),^ she said. ^As part of doing that we made a decision that Wales needed its own devolved management team and structure.^
Network Rail^s Wales route has 11 customers, five TOCs and six freight operating companies. Arriva is by far the largest TOC and D B Shenker the largest freight company.
^Each bit of our geography has a different set of challenges,^ said Ms Kendall. ^If we look at the North Wales mainline, that^s feeding into Chester, Manchester, Liverpool, the distinct economic pull in that direction. In central Wales it^s the Cambrian, we^ve had a lot of issues there with this winter^s bad weather.
^The central Wales line is a very rural line, with the challenges that brings, with very old signalling and station design. Across South Wales we^ve got passenger services for both Arriva and First Great Western (
FGW▸ ) but also a significant amount of freight.^
She added: ^It would be easy if we were in a steady state but, because we^ve got significant investment going on in the route, we^re trying to run trains and invest and rebuild our route at the same time. With some of the Cardiff resignalling projects, we^ve got passenger operators wanting to run during the day and freight operators who would typically run more services at night, so that blend coupled with the investment going in on the infrastructure does present some challenges.^
Network Rail^s investment and operations are governed by a five-yearly funding cycle, and it is currently entering its fifth ^control period^ (
CP5▸ ). It will spend ^1bn during CP5, maintaining and renewing the rail infrastructure in Wales and the Marches ^keeping the lights on and everything ticking along,^ as Ms Sambourne puts it.
In addition it plans to spend up to ^1.5bn enhancing the network.
Ms Sambourne said: ^We^re investing heavily in Wales. The big one is electrification, electrifying the Great Western mainline to Swansea. We^re also working on electrifying the Valley Lines, and we^ve got a lot of resignalling schemes ^ North Wales coast, down to Shrewsbury, Newport to Shrewsbury, there^s investment happening all over Wales.^
On the day of the interview a story in the Western Mail exposed an apparent misunderstanding between the UK and Welsh Governments on who will pay for electrification of the Valley Lines.
Ms Sambourne is tactful in her discussion of the controversy. ^From our perspective on Valley Lines electrification, it^s part of our CP5 commitments to deliver the scheme, so we are working very closely with both governments, Welsh Government and the Department for Transport, on making the scheme happen. We^re working to a set of delivery timescales. We^re aware that funding conversations are happening between both governments and we^re working with both until we get to the next milestone.^
Speaking more generally about Network Rail^s investment programme, Ms Kendall said: ^Our focus is helping make sure we spend the money in the right places, that we can do the enhancements and the improvements to the infrastructure, knowing that, for a number of decades, there hasn^t been any significant investment. It^s really nice to see that reversing, whether it^s big things like electrification or some of the smaller things like extending the line at Ebbw Vale.^
There are projects all over Wales, she points out, which will bring ^real benefit^ to the community, such as increasing access at stations by installing more footbridges.
Although there is a lot that needs to be done, the investment has been gradually building up over recent years, Ms Sambourne said.
^It^s increased over
CP4▸ , gradually ramping up over the past five years and even at the start of CP3. Now we^re reaping the benefits of more investments into CP5. In terms of our resources, yes, we^re growing as an organisation within Wales, that^s coming through in the projects we^re working on. There^s also a lot of crossover with what we^re doing with [Network Rail^s] other routes, such as Great Western Mainline electrification, a lot of synergies with our colleagues in our Western route.^
Investment on this scale and of this nature necessarily involves long-term strategic planning, which Network Rail undertakes so it is ready to move quickly when government gives the go ahead.
^We^re undertaking a market study which is looking at demographics, economic growth, where we think growth will occur in the next five to 30 years, which will inform where we think investment will take place in the future,^ Ms Sambourne said. ^A lot of those plans are there already. We use those to inform government and for them to make the decision on where they^d like to invest. For something like electrification to Swansea it was a case of having those plans and reinvigorating them when government made their decision.^
Network Rail is also involved in conversations with the Welsh Government around the South Wales Metro scheme, she added. ^We understand it^s very much in its infancy^ looking at the analysis of where new stations, new lines, new routes could come in, we^re involved in that, particularly from offering advice from a heavy rail perspective but also from an integration from the new line into an existing line.^
Ms Kendall added: ^Part of our role is to make sure we keep options open for the future, so even if we have schemes where you don^t get the whole pot of money in one go, part of our role is to help people make sure we make provision for that economic growth that will come in 10-15 years^ time and then respond.^
There are, astonishingly, 245 railway stations in Wales, all franchised out to Arriva, which operates and manages them, paying a lease to Network Rail and subletting facilities to retailers and food outlets. Network Rail, though, is responsible for redevelopment work, for example at Cardiff Central station.
^We^re working closely with Cardiff council for Cardiff Central, looking at how the station fits in with their regeneration plans for Central Square. We have developed our vision for Cardiff Central with Arriva, they^ve been involved in the design. We^re now working with Cardiff council and the Welsh Government on working that through,^ said Ms Sambourne.
^It^s an unfunded vision at the moment so we would look to see what we can do to make it a scheme to be funded through our settlement for
CP6▸ , which starts in 2019.^ Sitting in Cardiff it^s easy to forget the network of railway lines that spreads like a spider^s web throughout Wales, but the storms of last winter demonstrated the vulnerability of sections of the Cambrian Line, part of which runs along the coast of Cardigan Bay from Aberystwyth to Pwllheli (the other branch runs through the centre of Wales from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury).
Ms Kendall said: ^The Cambrian Line had major investment five years ago. It was resignalled with the European rail management system, [which] was a prototype signalling system at the time. So although it^s some of the oldest infrastructure it^s got some of the newest signalling equipment in the country.
^That line has had some real challenges through the bad weather in recent months, so we^re in the process of re-opening the line beyond Barmouth, that has been extensively damaged through the bad weather, particularly with coastal erosion. We^ve had lots of damage, not just to the rail but to the surrounding land. There^s also work being done for capacity enhancements, so we can increase the level of service on that line.^
With climate change suggesting rising sea levels and more frequent extreme weather in years to come, what is being done to future-proof the line?
^We are funded to put back what we had before and that^s our focus now, but we are doing a lot of work with people like Natural Resources Wales to look at where we also need to enhance,^ Ms Kendall said. ^We^ve got sea walls that have stood for 90 years and have been OK until recent months when they^ve been damaged. We^ve got some spots that are particularly vulnerable. Coastal erosion is a challenge across the whole of Wales and the UK. We^re not currently funded to do significant enhancements but we^re identifying what those costs might be.^
Ms Sambourne added: ^Just putting back what was there before is costing us ^25m to ^30m.^
Network Rail^s studies suggest lines both within and out of Wales will see continued growth in passenger and freight numbers in the years to come, but how much?
^It^s too early to say. We don^t yet have the numbers, but we think it will be significant from the early work we^ve started,^ Ms Sambourne said.
