Network Rail Route 8 (East Coast Main Line)
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| Arms-length public body | |
| Industry | European Rail Infrastructure Managers |
| Founded | October 2002 |
| Headquarters | London, England |
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Key people
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| Products | Public transport |
| Revenue | £6.2 billion (2013) |
| Owner | HM Government (Department for Transport) |
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Number of employees
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34,000 |
| Website | www.networkrail.co.uk |
Network Rail is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the rail network in England, Scotland and Wales. Network Rail is an arms length public body of the Department for Transport with no shareholders, which reinvests its income in the railways.
Network Rail's main customers are the private train operating companies (TOCs), responsible for passenger transport, and freight operating companies (FOCs), who provide train services on the infrastructure that the company owns and maintains. Since 1 September 2014, Network Rail has been classified as a "public sector body".
To cope with quickly rising passenger numbers, Network Rail is currently undertaking a £38 billion programme of upgrades to the network, including Crossrail, electrification of lines, upgrading Thameslink and a new high-speed line.
Britain's railway system was built by private companies, but it was nationalised by the Transport Act 1947 and run by British Railways until re-privatisation in the 1990s. Infrastructure and passenger and freight services were separated at that time. Between 1994 and 2002 the infrastructure was owned and operated by Railtrack.
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