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The UK Railways Portal

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The United Kingdom has two major rail networks: the network in Great Britain, a standard gauge network; and the Northern Ireland network, a 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge network (which, together with the Republic of Ireland network forms a single, unified network in Ireland).

The railway network in Great Britain consists of almost 10,300 miles of track and serves around 2,500 stations. The railway infrastructure is owned and operated by Network Rail while passenger services and all but 17 stations are operated by a total of 26 privately owned train operating companies (Network Rail directly operate the remaining 17 principal stations). The Irish network is naturally much smaller, with just 300 miles of track in Northern Ireland and around 1,400 miles of track in the Republic of Ireland, less than half of the original total of 3,600 miles of track. There are also 1,200 miles of private 3 ft (914 mm) gauge narrow gauge railways used for transporting peat by Bord na Móna, a company of the Irish government.

In 2005/2006 there were over 1 billion passenger journeys in Great Britain, the largest number since 1959, and during 2005/6 Network Rail will have spent approximately £5.1 billion on the routine maintenance and upgrading of the network. Network Rail continues to spend the equivalent of £14 million every day on maintenance and upgrading of the network.

In Ireland, the rail network has arguably suffered from much more serious under-investment than its mainland counterpart and passenger numbers are often negligible on some routes, however the two railway companies on the island have recently spent considerable sums upgrading track and rolling stock.

Overview · History · Pre-grouping railway companies · British Rail · Lines/Routes · Stations · Trains · Train Operating Companies

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Credit: Richard Kelly

Manchester Piccadilly station, known locally as just Piccadilly, is the principal railway station of Manchester in England, and lies on the Manchester loop of the West Coast Main Line. It serves intercity routes to London Euston, Birmingham New Street, Cardiff Central and the south, Glasgow Central, and routes throughout the north of England. Operated by Network Rail, it is the largest and busiest of the five city centre railway stations in Central Manchester/Salford, the others being Manchester Victoria, Salford Central, Deansgate and Manchester Oxford Road. It is the fourth busiest major station in the United Kingdom outside London for footfall (visitor numbers) and the busiest in England outside London for passenger usage. (more…)

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Did you know…

…that most of the Thomas The Tank Engine characters are based on genuine British Rail locomotives, and that Thomas is based on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway’s E2 0-6-0 locomotive?
…that there are three stations where the train operator responsible for the management of the station has no services calling at that station?
…that there is a total of 262 million journey and fare combinations on the British railway network?

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Related Portals

Transport
Trains
London Transport
UK Trams

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Trains News

February 1 – An East Midlands Trains service crashed into a footbridge, after it was demolished by a tipper truck. A warning message was sent out, but the Nottingham to Norwich service was unable to stop in time at Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire. The driver, who was trapped in the cab for two hours, suffered leg injuries. The six passengers onboard were unhurt. The crash caused delays to services from Leicester to Loughborough and south from Nottingham, as well as those from Sheffield and Nottingham to London. (more…)

Portal:UK Railways

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