Digital Railway Programme: transforming transport for Britain

Setting the scene

The ultimate objective of any transport service is to take the public from A to B - safely, on-time, at the right price and in comfort. As many commuters and rail passengers will know, we have challenges in consistently achieving these objectives across Britain’s complex and highly utilised rail network.

New capacity is urgently required to meet the continued rise in demand which could mean there will be an extra one billion journeys by the mid-2030s. Through a focus on technology innovation, our railways can be transformed in a cost effective way, that will improve the journeys of millions of travellers, whilst also contributing significantly to UK GDP.

How we helped

Appointed as one of the Delivery Partners for the Digital Railway Programme at Network Rail, a diverse and multi-disciplinary PwC team has worked together across Forensics, Corporate Finance and Consulting to support the Digital Railway Programme with its ambitions to bring transformational change to the rail industry. Throughout the first twelve months of this project, we've worked with the programme to:

Define the strategy for delivering the Digital Railway Programme.
Develop the business case for change; identifying and articulating the benefits of deploying digital signalling technology.
Establish its plans and operating model to drive engagement across industry.
Develop its commercial mechanisms for funding, financing and complex procurement activity.

Making a difference

Our work with Network Rail is in support of their aim to create greater capacity for the additional one billion journeys that are expected by the mid-2030s, with the added benefit of boosting Britain’s economic growth and providing a safe and reliable rail network for the generations to come.