Network Rail’s profits and debts rose in the first half of the 2012/13 financial year as Britain’s infrastructure owner continued to increase investment in the country’s railway.
Profit after taxation rose to £573 million compared to £136 million last year.
Net debt also rose from £27.2 billion to £28.04 billion – an increase Network Rail attributed to the significant investment in the railway over the period.
Capital expenditure remained flat at £2.07 billion despite the Olympic shutdown.
Patrick Butcher, Network Rail’s group finance director, said: “The railway continues to see strong traffic growth which provides us with the challenge of getting the balance right between capacity, reliability and efficiency.
“We have seen growth on the network of five per cent a year for a decade and this is set to continue. That means we continue to become more efficient so we can continue to invest to meet this growth.”
The half-year results, which were released by Network Rail today (November 22), showed that the value of the railway network has increased in the period to £45.3 billion from £43.1 billion at the end of March this year.
Mr Butcher added: “Network Rail continues to evolve. Last year we completed devolving authority to all 10 of our routes and now we can make progress to moving to a group structure that reflects this.
“We have already set up our infrastructure projects division as a standalone business unit, launched Network Rail Consulting as our international business and we have plans to run our energy, telecoms and recycling operations each with their own profit and loss account. We believe this will generate greater efficiencies and unlock greater value to the business.
“Our daily focus remains on running safe, reliable and efficient railway service for passengers and freight users alike. Whilst train punctuality is at high, historical levels Network Rail recognises that on parts of network performance is not as good as it should be. As we have before, we will continue to take any appropriate action to improve services.”
