Go-Ahead welcomes £9 billion investment in rail network

Go-Ahead, the UK’s busiest rail operator welcomed the announcement yesterday (July 16) by the Department for Transport of its future investment plans for the rail network. The plans, amounting to £9 billion worth of investment, were set out in the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) and Statement of Available Funds (SoFA). These describe the Government’s expectation of the outputs the rail industry should deliver from 01 April 2014 to 31 March 2019.

The plans were announced by Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg during a visit to London Midland’s Soho maintenance depot, in Smethwick, Birmingham. London Midland is one of three train operating companies operated by Go-Ahead -the others are Southern and Southeastern.

David Brown, Group Chief Executive of Go-Ahead said: “This unprecedented level of investment will increase capacity and reliability and make rail an even more attractive alternative to the car. We look forward to playing a role in delivering these improvements and to working with our industry partners including the Department for Transport and Network Rail.”

Go-Ahead operates three rail franchises (Southern, Southeastern and London Midland) through Govia, a joint venture partnership between the Go-Ahead Group (65%) and Keolis (35%).