HS1 Ltd and Network Rail agree new deal

HS1 Ltd, the owners of the UK’s first and only high speed railway, and Network Rail have signed a new deal, extending Network Rail’s contract to operate and maintain High Speed 1 until at least 2025.

Following a very successful first five years of operation, since the full opening of HS1 and St Pancras International in 2007, the two organisations have now extended the contract between them to:

• Bring the two businesses closer together – aligning incentives for quality and efficiency
• Offer better value to HS1 and its customers – with an immediate significant reduction in price
• Incentivise and facilitate the 50/50 sharing of future financial outperformance

Nicola Shaw, chief executive, HS1 Ltd, said: “We conducted an extensive market review and knew that we had alternatives. However the quality of delivery from Network Rail (CTRL) has been good over the last few years and this deal offered real benefits to us and to our customers. We’ve now got a decade of certainty on which to work together to improve the line even further and to welcome more growth.”

Patrick Butcher, Network Rail’s group finance director, said: “We have run HS1’s infrastructure since the current route opened in 2007 and have delivered a high standard of punctuality and overall performance for our client and the route’s users – a standard that we aim to continue for many years to come.”

“The new contract offers our client even better value, and allows HS1 and its customers to share in outperformance through the continuation of the excellent partnership that has been established.”

HS1 remains among the world’s most reliable railways with an average train delay of between six and eight seconds. Passenger numbers continue to grow every year since opening.