Network Rail describes its �26bn investment as 'unprecedented'

Network Rail (NR), the state-backed operator, will invest �26bn to boost train punctuality from the current 80% to 90% before 2009.

NR chief executive John Armitt said: "Through this unprecedented level of investment we can look forward to a better railway for the passenger."

NR has promised to replace almost 1.5 miles of track each day with the money.

The company said performance was continuing to improve.

By the end of the 2004-2005 financial year they expected to deliver around an 8.5% improvement on last year's figures in terms of NR-caused delays.

The number of trains running on time was 86.1% immediately before the October 2000 Hatfield rail disaster and it is hoped that these levels will be achieved by 2006-2007.

Faster services

NR said one of the improvements in its business plan will include faster services on the London to Scotland West Coast Main Line from September 2004.

Every day we will have over 20,000 rail workers out on the track rebuilding Britain's railway John Armitt NR chief executive Cash injection may not be enough

A power supply problem that has prevented some new trains being introduced in southern England will also be resolved.

Mr Armitt said: "Our job must be to ensure we get the most out of every shovel-full, making every penny count in the delivery of a better, more reliable railway.

Our people have risen to the challenges magnificently and it is through their hard work, ideas and innovations that we can continue to rebuild Britain's railway."

PLANNED RAIL IMPROVEMENTS Faster and more frequent West Coast services, with major works for the West of England and Wales New platforms at Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton Significant renewals at St Pancras, King's Cross, Hitchin, Peterborough, Doncaster, Hastings, Richmond, Clapham Junction and Kingston Major renovation on the Brighton, Wimbledon-Sutton and Waterloo-Vauxhall lines Power supply upgrade in southern England Doubling the track along the Lichfield Trent Valley Commissioning of the Cherwell Valley resignalling scheme

NR has said that where maintenance had been taken back in-house the reduction in delays was striking, with the Reading area showing a 41% fall over the past five months and the Wessex area 19% over a similar period.

Speaking on BBC News 24 Phil Davies from the Rail Passengers Council (RPC) said they want to see the money properly deployed.

He said: "We need to see improvements at stations like Birmingham New Street where there's a big issue about capacity (31 million passengers use the station every year), with a danger the station can close regularly if we don't create more space for passengers.

"But if they're going to spend the money in a way that gets us back to a decent standard of reliability then that's very welcome."

Mr Davies added: "We've got people who do understand what needs to be done, unlike the old Railtrack days when the railways were run like a property company."

Debts

The �26bn is far less than NR originally asked for, but is around �7bn more than was first put forward by Rail Regulator Tom Winsor for NR's predecessor company Railtrack.

With net debts of around �12.8 billion, rising to more than �17 billion in the next financial year, NR has a �21 billion package of support loans from the Strategic Rail Authority.

NR has also said that it is considering changing the way it measures train delays.

Currently, statistics give the percentage of trains running on time across all lines run by a particular passenger train company.

The RPC has called these statistics meaningless and NR has said it would like to record delays along the lines of an average delay per train on a specific route.

Meanwhile, plans drawn up by train operating companies to take control of the Britain's rail infrastructure have been rejected.