New deal will end many mobile blackspots for rail passengers, Government claims
It made the claim after an agreement was signed between Government-owned Network Rail and telecoms companies Neos Networks and Freshwave.
Passengers often suffer from dropped calls and weak internet connections when travelling by train.
The new deal, named Project Reach, will initially see Neos Networks install 1,000km (621 miles) of ultra-fast fibre optic cable along parts of the East Coast Main Line, West Coast Main Line, Great Western Main Line and Chiltern Main Line.
There is an ambition to expand the cabling beyond 5,000km (3,107 miles) in the 'near future', the DfT said.
Freshwave will tackle blackspots in 57 tunnels covering nearly 50km (31 miles), including the Chipping Sodbury tunnel near Bristol.
As part of the deal, mobile network operators will also invest in new 4G and 5G infrastructure at these 12 railway stations: Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads, Edinburgh Waverley, Euston, Glasgow Central, King's Cross, Leeds, Liverpool Lime Street, Liverpool Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Paddington and Waterloo.
The DfT said the agreement 'brings together public and private sector investment and infrastructure', and is expected to save taxpayers 'around £300 million'.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: 'This is a game-changer for passengers up and down the country, and will revolutionise journeys from Paddington to Penzance and Edinburgh to Euston.
'By boosting connectivity and tackling signal blackspots, we are also ensuring a more reliable and efficient service.
'This means better journeys for passengers while supporting our broader plan for change goals of economic growth and digital innovation.'
The installation of infrastructure under Project Reach is expected to begin next year and be completed by 2028.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
4 hours ago
- Bloomberg
How Will the UK's State-Owned Energy Company Spend £5.8 Billion?
When the UK handed the Labour party a parliamentary majority last July, it promised to build a new state owned energy company called Great British Energy. It's almost exactly one year since its creation, and GB Energy now has a budget of £5.8 billion ($7.88 billion) to get the organization off the ground.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Starmer faces Labour turmoil and global volatility as he marks year in Number 10
Sir Keir Starmer is facing Labour dissent, economic uncertainty and spiralling conflict abroad as he marks a year in Number 10. The Prime Minister led his party back into power with more than 400 MPs on July 4 last year – clinching a majority just short of Sir Tony Blair's landslide in 1997. But with a daunting in-tray of problems including a stuttering economy, creaking public services and global volatility, his political honeymoon period was short-lived. His personal popularity is now the lowest of any British premier after their first 12 months in office, political scientist and polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice said. 'There were pretty clear potential weaknesses before they even started, and most of those weaknesses have basically just been exposed over the course of the last 12 months,' he told the PA news agency. Sir John said part of the problem lay in what he described as a failure of narrative in setting out the Government's vision for change to the public. 'They're portraying themselves as a repair gang rather than the builders of a new Jerusalem. Pessimism doesn't necessarily go down very well,' he told PA. 'The thing with Starmer is, he's a brilliant prosecution lawyer… But prosecution lawyers present cases that have been (put together) by someone else. The problem is that as a political leader you've got to prosecute your own case. 'Maybe he needs new personnel? Either he's got to learn to do it himself or get someone in to do it for him.' That verdict was echoed by some dissenting voices within Labour ranks, where there is lingering discontent among rebels over the Government's Welfare Bill despite Number 10 offering major concessions on the legislation. The Government saw off the threat of a major Commons defeat over the legislation on Tuesday after shelving plans to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip), the main disability benefit in England. 'I think he really needs to think about why he wants to be a Labour Prime Minister and what is it he actually cares about,' one long-serving Labour MP said. They said Tuesday had marked 'the lowest point' in Sir Keir's premiership so far and raised questions about his authority, warning that backbenchers may now feel emboldened to demand further U-turns elsewhere. Sir John said that the Government's challenges in passing legislation were unsurprising with the broad but fragile coalition of support on which Labour built its election victory, securing 412 seats on just 35% of the vote. That means many MPs defending narrow majorities and raises the prospect of 'a large body of people who are nervous about their political futures,' he said. The Government's original welfare proposals had been part of a package that ministers expected to save up to £5 billion a year, leaving Chancellor Rachel Reeves needing to look for the money elsewhere. The fallout threatens to cause lasting damage to morale in Labour ranks, with some rebels calling for a reset in relations between the parliamentary party and the leadership before fractures widen. Images of the Chancellor crying in the Commons on Wednesday have also led to questions about her future, although a Treasury spokesman cited a 'personal matter' as the cause of her distress and Number 10 said she would remain in post. Asked whether it was time for a course correction, Downing Street has said the Prime Minister will 'plough on' with the 'very busy agenda' of Government. But the MP quoted above said: 'The idea that they can keep carrying on as they've been carrying on is suicidal. 'They have no real sense of how the party thinks and feels.' Others had a more optimistic view of the year ahead, with a Starmer loyalist who supported the Bill suggesting the upset could be salvaged with a 'measured but solid response' from the Government. 'The worst they can do is nothing,' the backbencher added. The Prime Minister used a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to defend his record in office, telling ministers the welfare Bill was 'to help those who can work into employment and ensure dignity and security for those who can't work.' He said they could all 'rightly look back with a real sense of pride and achievement' on the last 12 months, pointing to a reduction in NHS waiting lists and a series of economic agreements struck with the US, EU and India. Abroad, the Prime Minister faces a tricky diplomatic balancing act as he seeks to strengthen ties with both Europe and Washington amid global instability from the Ukraine war and Middle East crisis. At home, Labour is staring down a threat from Nigel Farage's Reform UK party, which turned opinion poll momentum into widespread gains at the ballot box during the local elections in May. Sir John said that parties such as Reform and the Greens offer more choice to voters wanting to express their discontent with Labour while the Tories continue to flounder in the polls. 'The character of the challenge is different from what it has been historically,' he said. Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University, said people had been expecting bold change on areas such as workers' rights and growth, and the Government's achievements so far were 'pretty small beer' by comparison. Critics say the first year has instead been marked by a series of U-turns, including a partial reversal of cuts to the winter fuel payment and the move to launch a national inquiry into grooming gangs after months of resisting opposition pressure to do so. The Government disputes that framing, pointing out for example that ministers had never explicitly ruled out a statutory probe into child sexual exploitation but waited for a review to be carried out before making a decision. Prof Bale said he believed the first year had gone 'worse than most people imagined' and warned 'it's difficult for a leader who starts badly to persuade people that he or she is what they need.' But he said the problems were not necessarily fatal, adding that setbacks early on in a premiership have an upside in allowing for more time to 'turn it round'. 'If you look back to Margaret Thatcher, she was able to do that, so it's not a foregone conclusion that all is lost, even for Keir Starmer himself,' he said. Arguing that the Government could recover in the polls if its plans for the economy and public services pay off, he added: 'I think you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it's a very long tunnel.' Sir Keir has pledged to lead a 'decade of national renewal' through a phased approach to Government, the first year of which he said would involve 'cleaning up the mess' his administration had inherited. In a speech last week seeking to set the tone for the future, he said: 'We've wiped the state clean, we've stabilised the economy, and now we can go on to the next phase of government, building on that foundation.' A Government spokesperson said: 'We were elected with a commitment to deliver change and security for working people – and we are getting on with the job. 'We are delivering our Plan for Change – wages are rising faster than prices, interest rates have been cut four times, immigration has come down with 30,000 people with no right to be here removed and over four million NHS appointments have been delivered. 'Progress has been made, but we know people are impatient for change – and we are too – so we will continue to govern in the national interest for British people and deliver a decade of national renewal.'
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Reeves will be Chancellor ‘for a very long time', PM says after Commons tears
Rachel Reeves will be Chancellor for a 'very long time to come', Sir Keir Starmer has said after she was seen crying during Prime Minister's Questions. The Prime Minister said it was 'absolutely wrong' to suggest the Chancellor's visibly tearful appearance in the Commons related to the welfare U-turn, which put an almost £5 billion black hole in her plans. 'It's got nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with what's happened this week. It was a personal matter for her. 'I'm not going to intrude on her privacy by talking to you about that. It is a personal matter,' he added while speaking to the BBC's podcast Political Thinking with Nick Robinson. Asked if Ms Reeves would remain in her post, the Prime Minister said: 'She will be Chancellor by the time this is broadcast, she will be Chancellor for a very long time to come, because this project that we've been working on to change the Labour party, to win the election, change the country, that is a project which the Chancellor and I've been working on together.' The Chancellor has done a 'fantastic job', Sir Keir also told the BBC, adding: 'She and I work together, we think together. In the past, there have been examples – I won't give any specific – of chancellors and prime ministers who weren't in lockstep. We're in lockstep.' Markets took fright after scenes of Ms Reeves's tears spread, with the value of the pound and long-term Government bonds slumping sharply. In the Commons, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Ms Reeves looked 'absolutely miserable' and challenged the Prime Minister to say whether she would keep her job until the next election. Sir Keir dodged the question about whether Ms Reeves would be in place for the remainder of the Parliament, saying Mrs Badenoch 'certainly won't'. Downing Street then insisted Ms Reeves was 'going nowhere' and will remain as Chancellor. Allies, meanwhile, said she was dealing with a 'personal matter' when asked about her tears. Sir Keir, who stumbled on his way out of Downing Street for Prime Minister's Questions, faced questions over his handling of a welfare reform package, which has been stripped of key elements to limit the scale of a Labour revolt. Changes to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip) were abandoned on Tuesday, just 90 minutes before MPs voted on them, wiping out the savings that Ms Reeves had counted on to help meet her goal of funding day-to-day spending through tax receipts rather than borrowing. As the Chancellor left the Commons after Prime Minister's Questions, her sister, Ellie Reeves, took her hand in an apparent show of support. Reports suggested Ms Reeves had been involved in an altercation with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle shortly before Prime Minister's Questions. Sir Lindsay was said to have censured Ms Reeves for her approach to Treasury Questions earlier in the week, and the Chancellor reportedly responded that she had been 'under so much pressure'. A spokeswoman for the Speaker said: 'No comment.' Asked why Sir Keir did not confirm in the Commons that he still had faith in Ms Reeves, the Prime Minister's press secretary told reporters: 'He has done so repeatedly. 'The Chancellor is going nowhere. She has the Prime Minister's full backing. 'He has said it plenty of times, he doesn't need to repeat it every time the Leader of the Opposition speculates about Labour politicians.' Asked whether the Prime Minister still had confidence in Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, the press secretary said: 'Yes.' Labour has promised that income tax, employee national insurance contributions and VAT will not be increased, restricting Ms Reeves's options for raising money if she does look to hike taxes. The Institute for Fiscal Studies's incoming director, Helen Miller, said: 'Since departmental spending plans are now effectively locked in, and the Government has already had to row back on planned cuts to pensioner benefits and working-age benefits, tax rises would look increasingly likely. 'This will doubtless intensify the speculation over the summer about which taxes may rise and by how much.' Sir Keir declined to rule out tax rises later this year, telling MPs: 'No prime minister or chancellor ever stands at the despatch box and writes budgets in the future.'
