Rail firm given five-year targets

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The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) also ruled that NR will have to get by with less money than it had asked for in the period 2009-14.

At the same time, NR will have to improve in terms of reliability and levels of disruption, with a 20% reduction in late and cancelled trains and improvements in safety.

Train punctuality currently runs at around 90% of trains operating on time.

The ORR said this figure should be increased to at least 93% for local services in south east England and to 92% for all other services.

ORR ruled that Network Rail will need income of £26.7 billion for the five-year period beginning April 2009. This is 8% less than the £29.1 billion that NR has said it needs.

ORR chief executive Bill Emery said this funding gave NR the opportunity to deliver further improvements for train operators, passengers and freight customers.

NR's planning and regulation director Paul Plummer said: "Continued high levels of investment in our railway network are to be welcomed but we must be sure that these clearly challenging targets and levels of investment set out today by the ORR are both achievable and adequate to meet the growing demands being placed on our railway.

"We will now take away today's determination and carefully study and consider the implications it will have on both passengers and freight users and on the industry as a whole.

"We must satisfy ourselves that what is proposed can be delivered and that it will be enough to solve the issues of capacity and deliver the much needed investment we need to build a bigger, better railway."