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Delivering a Sustainable Railway - White Paper CM 7176

The White Paper 'Delivering a Sustainable Railway', published on 24 July 2007, fulfils the remit the Government set itself in 2005 to provide strategic direction for the rail industry.

The Railways Act 2005 places a statutory duty on the Government to set out every five years how much public expenditure it wishes to devote to rail and specify what it wants the railway to deliver, notably in relation to safety, reliability and capacity. The formal statement, including the High Level Output Specification and Statement of funds available, is contained within the White Paper. It covers the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2014.

The White Paper looks at the potential future challenges for the railway over a 30-year horizon. It identifies three long-term agendas for Government and the rail industry working in partnership: increasing the capacity of the railway, delivering a quality service for passengers, and fulfilling rail's environmental potential.

Hard copies of the White Paper (priced £25) may be requested by telephoning TSO [0870 600 5522] or through the Parliamentary hotline Lo-call [0845 7 023474]. A free summary booklet may be requested by telephoning [0870 1226 236].

White paper and technical strategy addendum - updated carbon figures

This document presents an updated table of carbon emissions for the relative performance of rail compared to other modes. It replaces Figure 11.1 in the rail white paper Delivering a Sustainable Railway and Figure 4.2 in the Rail Technical Strategy.

Published:: 21 May 2008

Delivering a Sustainable Railway - White Paper CM 7176

The White Paper 'Delivering a Sustainable Railway', published on 24 July 2007, fulfils the remit the Government set itself in 2005 to provide strategic direction for the rail industry.

Published:: 01 August 2007

Delivering a Sustainable Railway: Summary (450 kb)

Published:: 24 July 2007

DfT High Level Output Specification - Specimen Capacity Options

Illustrative specimen capacity enhancement options were developed by DfT, and modelled in the Network Modelling Framework (NMF), to demonstrate that the HLOS output metric requirements can be delivered within the Statement of Funds Available; as outlined in the Schedule to Appendix A of the Rail White Paper ‘Delivering a Sustainable Railway.

Published:: 27 July 2007
Last update:: 20 August 2007

Summary of key research and analysis

The Summary of Key Research and Analysis is a compilation of the main evidence that underpins the analysis in the main White Paper 'Delivering a Sustainable Railway'. There are also a set of supporting documents.

The Rail Technical Strategy

The Rail Technical Strategy (RTS) is published with and supports the 2007 Rail White Paper - 'Delivering a Sustainable Railway', which identifies the future needs that the railway is likely to meet over a planning horizon of 30 years.

Delivering a Sustainable Railway - supporting documents

This includes the 'Network Modelling Framework', 'NMF baseline timetable (2009/10) and specimen HLOS options' and 'Maglev report: technical issues raised by the proposal to introduce a 500 km/h magnetically-levitated transport system in the UK, 'Evaluation report for double deck and extra long train operations', and 'Study on further electrification of Britain's railway network'.

For related documents, pages and internet links, see the column on the right.