Great Western costs soar to £2.8 billion Network Rail admits

Network Rail Chairman Mark Carne says the costs of the Great Western Main Line (GWML) electrification could now be £2.5-£2.8 billion - almost three times the original estimate of £874 million made in 2013.

His announcement was made in a letter sent to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and dated October 19, although committee chairman Meg Hillier told a packed hearing that it only arrived on October 21. 

The hearing, which was taking place as this issue of RAIL went to press on October 21, was set up to investigate Network Rail’s difficulties in delivering its Control Period 5 (CP5, 2014-19) programme, to understand how rail investment is planned, to examine how CP5 delivers from the previous Control Period, to consider the implications of the decision to reclassify NR as a public body, and to look at how and when concerns were raised about its CP5 progress and how the Government is responding.

• For more coverage, read RAIL 786, published on October 28.