Network Rail News. 23rd June 2012

NEW TRAIN CREW CENTRE LIGHTS UP NEW STREET

 

Birmingham saw the opening of one of the rail network’s greenest buildings today as a new base for railway staff officially arrived at platform 1 at Birmingham New Street station.

The new building, known as the Lamp Block, sits on the west end of platform 1 at the station rising above Hill Street and Navigation Street. It was delivered by Network Rail for CrossCountry and is now the base for over 450 of their train crew who run CrossCountry services across Great Britain.

Built in less than a year within a very challenging environment between a rock face and the railway, it sits on the site of a 19^th century depot which supplied gas lamps to workers who maintained the railway tunnels either side of New Street station.

Chris Montgomery, project director for Network Rail said: “The opening of the Lamp Block not only provides a fantastic facility for CrossCountry staff; it also marks an important step towards the redevelopment of New Street to deliver a better station for passengers. We’ve worked carefully to avoid disruption to train services during construction and offset the building's carbon footprint by incorporating green technology as part of the building design.”

The new facility is expected to receive a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) rating of excellent. It boasts a number of sustainable features including solar panels to generate electricity, a solar thermal system to generate hot water, sub-metering for all water, heating and cooling to monitor energy consumption and an energy efficient lighting system. Sharing the space with the solar panels is also the building’s green roof, containing over 14 different species of plant to contribute to the area’s biodiversity and reduce rainwater run off into the drainage system. This renewable technology is expected to reduce the building’s carbon emissions by 10%. Over 85% of all non-hazardous construction and demolition waste for the build has either been re-used or recycled.

Andy Cooper, CrossCountry’s managing director, added: “Our new train crew centre replaces accommodation more than 50 years old and reflects the standards expected in a modern business. The innovative solution provided by the Lamp Block has released even more space on the main station to provide a better environment for our customers too. We are very pleased with the result.”

The Lamp Block
(C) Network Rail

Notes:

The redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station and the Pallasades centre is backed by Birmingham City Council, Network Rail, Department for Transport, Centro and Advantage West Midlands.
The project will deliver:
Space to accommodate passenger growth: the new concourse will be three and a half times bigger than at present and will be enclosed by a giant atrium which will flood the station concourse and Pallasades with natural light.
Better access for all: over 30 new escalators and 15 new public lifts will make it much easier to travel between the platforms and the concourse above.
Cutting edge design: a stunning new station façade will create a new landmark building in the heart of Birmingham.
A revitalised city centre: the new redeveloped Pallasades centre anchored by the new John Lewis department store will offer new retail brands alongside quality places to eat and drink, cementing Birmingham’s reputation as one of the UK’s top retail destinations.
Regeneration and economic growth: new pedestrian links will open up the city centre, stimulating regeneration and creating new jobs. We’re also working to open up job opportunities to the local workforce during construction.
The station will remain open throughout the redevelopment. Passengers will notice the first changes to their journey when they start using the first half of the new station concourse opens in April 2013. Work will then switch to redeveloping the old existing station. The project completes in 2015.


NETWORK RAIL PUBLISHES ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2011/12 
Commenting on the report’s publication, Rick Haythornthwaite, Network Rail's chairman, said: “The last year has been one of steady progress across many areas but especially in cutting the cost of running the rail network. The year has also seen the company grappling with the difficult balance and trade-offs between cost, capacity and performance with more work needed to meet tough punctuality targets."
Financial and performance highlights for the year:

• £120m cut from the cost of running the railway
• Post tax profit increased by £441m (£754m, 2010/11 £313m)
• Revenue was £6,004m (20010/11 £5,712m)
• Operating profits were £2,337m (2010/11 : £2,028m)
• Capital expenditure was £4,600m (2010/11 : £3,997m)
• Net debt at year end was £27,281m (2010/11 : £25,049m)
• Gearing ratio (debt to regulated asset base) was 62.5% (2010/11: 63.4%)

• In 2011/12 91.6% of passenger trains ran on time, up on the 2010/11 figure of 90.9%

Earlier this year Network Rail's chief executive, David Higgins, announced that he, and his fellow executive directors, would forego any entitlement to an annual bonus this year (2011/12). Also, a long-term incentive scheme is still in discussion with key stakeholders and members, so a new scheme has yet to be put in place.
Therefore there are no bonus payments being made this year (either annual or long-term) to the executive directors of Network Rail.