Rail electrification work announced

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The Prime Minister arrived at Paddington station in London to journey on the Great Western line to Cardiff for a Cabinet meeting.

The Great Western route from London to Swansea is to be electrified over the next eight years at a cost of £1 billion.

The Government is also spending £100 million on electrifying lines between Liverpool and Manchester, with the work taking four years.

At Paddington, Mr Brown said: "This is the future. It is green, it is faster and it's more reliable. This is about making the railways fit for the 21st century."

Asked if the Government could afford such a scheme now, Mr Brown replied: "We have set aside money for this. It's an important priority for us."

Only about one third of the rail network is electrified at the moment, with the Great Western route the last of the major routes to be still predominantly using diesel trains.

The Great Western electrification will include the lines to Oxford and to Newbury in Berkshire and will also make possible the direct replacement of the ageing InterCity 125 fleet by electric Super Express trains. Electrification will shorten the London to Swansea journey time - currently just over three hours - by about 20 minutes.

Travelling with Mr Brown was Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, who said: "We are electrifying 300 miles of track and we are also looking to extend electrification to other lines. There will be some disruptions while the work is going on but Network Rail plan to keep disruption to a minimum, with much of the work being done overnight."

The electrification announcement follows Network Rail's consultation document on electrification earlier this year, which also made the case for electrifying the Midland Main Line route. Lord Adonis said that the Government did consider Midland Main Line and would continue to consider it.