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The Department for Transport has announced more than £9 billion of upgrades to the railway network across England and Wales, in a bid to cut journey times, improve reliability and increase capacity by 140,000 commutes a day.
The improvement programme will extend from now until 2020, as part of the preparation for the government's work on High Speed 2 in the coming decades.
However, it is worth noting that £5.2 billion of this figure has already been committed to Crossrail, Thameslink and electrification projects on the lines from London to Cardiff; Manchester to Liverpool and Preston; and across the Penines.
The remaining £4.2 billion will go towards newly announced projects such as upgrades to stations including the £350 million lengthening of platforms at London Waterloo station.
Another new scheme is a £240 million package of improvements along the East Coast Main Line, which stretches from the capital to the North East, through Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
Prime minister David Cameron said: "From Crossrail, high speed rail and now the billions of pounds of investment we are announcing today, this government is committed to taking the long-term decisions to deliver growth and jobs."
Author: Editor Gavin Pearson (gpearson@acenet.co.uk or 0207 202 0255)
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