29.10.14
Rail planning to consider ‘social and economic aspirations’
Rail planning in the future is to take into consideration “social and economic aspirations”, the Rail Delivery Group said in a report released today.
In The Way Ahead, RDG looks at the role rail plays in the economic and social life of Britain, and details how its approach to strategic planning over the next 30 years will identify where investment in infrastructure or step changes in improvements to services could deliver the biggest rewards to the country.
The Way Ahead report also sets out a Long Term Planning Process (LTPP), which has been introduced to enable the industry to better plan and develop the railway that helps accommodate growing demand and also deliver the country’s strategic goals, including the stimulation of economic growth.
The LTPP builds upon established Route Utilisation Strategies, s to identify how rail should develop to best help deliver the country’s strategic goals. According to a recent report by Oxera, rail enhances the productive potential of the economy by up to £10.2bn per year.
Commenting on the report, Paul Plummer, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group Planning Oversight Group and Group Strategy director at Network Rail, said: "The way we plan for rail’s future needs is of huge significance to the country and the main objective of the new Long Term Planning Process is to understand how the railway can serve Britain better. The industry is committed to delivering ambitious plans for the railway with a vision that does more than simply fix the past and is working together to create a plan that prioritises investment and places the wider economic and social role of rail as well as rail users at the heart of everything we do.”
(Image: c. Marc Antoine L Frenette)
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