The UK’s transport secretary is expected to unveil £9 billion of investment for UK railways later today.
The UK rail investment plan for 2014 to 2019, to be unveiled by transport secretary Justine Greening, includes a commitment to provide electric trains on the Midland Main Line from Bedford to Sheffield and Leicester; on local lines in the Welsh Valleys, and between Manchester and Leeds.
Part of the Varsity Line between Oxford and Cambridge will be reopened, in order to enable services between Oxford and Milton Keynes to resume by 2017; meanwhile, plans to electrify the Great Western Main Line from London to Cardiff will now be extended to Swansea, while improvements will also be made on the East Coast Main Line.
Around £5 billion of the investment has been set aside for the completion of existing projects such as Thameslink and Crossrail, with £4 billion reserved for the new plans.
Any building work on the rail projects would not start until at least 2014, as the announcement covers the period 2014 to 2019.
