UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has announced in his latest Autumn Statement that the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) will allocate an extra £450m to trial digital signalling technology on railways.
The new technology is aimed at expanding capacity and improving reliability .
From 2018-19 to 2020-21, the fund will allocate around £80m to accelerate the roll-out of smart ticketing, including season tickets for commuters in the UK’s major cities.
High-Speed 2 (HS2) Phase 1 construction is expected to start next year and the government has announced its preferred route for Phase IIb of HS2.
The planned high-speed railway HS2 will link London, Birmingham, the East Midlands, Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester and would be the second high-speed rail line in Britain.
Furthermore, the government is looking into the Crossrail 2 project and also investing £5m in development funding for the Midlands Rail Hub.
This programme of rail upgrades in and around central Birmingham is expected to provide up to ten additional trains an hour.
In his statement, Hammond also said that the government is planning to bring forward £100m to accelerate construction of the East-West Rail line western section.
In addition, £10m will be allocated in development funding for the central rail section.
