BBC News: Railways to get £8bn investment

[colinw]

BBC News: Railways to get £8bn investment

Plans for £8bn of investment in Britain's railways have been announced by the government.

The government is buying about 2,000 new carriages to tackle overcrowding, electrifying some lines, and pressing ahead with the Thameslink programme.

Yet only 650 of the new carriages will be available by 2014 - less than the 1,300 announced by the last government, while Thameslink is delayed two years.

Labour has called the plans "nothing more than one long series of delays".

Meanwhile, proposals to modernise the London-Swansea line are still on hold and it will be the end of the decade before the investment is complete.

Passengers also face above-inflation rises in ticket prices to help pay for the investments.

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But the Great Western Main Line misses out again.    So I guess it'll be a while before I see the wires go up in Chippenham.  On the positive side, it means a few more years of enjoying Intercity 125s.

My rail journeys this trip have been less than inspiring.  The GWML was closed for major works between Swindon & Reading, consequently London to Bristol services were reduced to hourly on the weekend, and Chippenham left with an hourly Bristol to Swindon shuttle service.  It reminded me of the bad old days of hourly weekend services in Brisbane.  The last train home at 10:46PM was less than inspiring as well.