26.07.07
ATOC Welcomes Government’s Rail Strategy
ATOC Welcomes Government’s Rail Strategy as Positive Step Forward for Passengers
The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) says that train operators welcome the Government’s renewed commitment to providing more capacity to Britain’s rail network announced today in its High Level Outputs Statement and 30 Year Rail Strategy announced by the Secretary of State for Transport.
George Muir, Director General of ATOC, said:
“More trains, longer platforms, schemes to expand capacity – these core ingredients of today’s announcement send a clear signal that the Government is seriously aiming to address the constraints felt by passengers every day on our rail network.
“Investing in 1,300 new train carriages, sorting out the bottleneck at Reading station, giving the go-ahead to the Thameslink Programme, and bringing Birmingham New Street station up to 21st century standards are all the right things to do for passengers.
“Clearly, the rail industry will need to study the details of today’s announcement and assess all its implications.
“The investment announced is very welcome indeed, though the growth we are currently seeing would suggest that by 2014 we could require even more capacity than is currently planned.”
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