Sectors · Rail

47 UK and Irish rail projects you can follow, with the latest rail news

See every rail project on our map, from electrification to new stations, with the date we last checked each one. Read the latest rail items from The Wire alongside, each one traced to its source.

Bidding for UK railway work? 3 spending numbers you need first

Rail infrastructure is the track, signals, stations, bridges and overhead power lines that trains run on. Check who your client is before you bid, because Network Rail owns and maintains Britain's railway and Translink runs Northern Ireland's. Most of the work you will see on this page is renewing what is already there, not building new lines.

Plan around Network Rail's main funding deal, which is fixed until March 2029. The rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, set it at £43.1 billion for the five years from 1 April 2024, to run, maintain and renew the network. Big upgrades are funded scheme by scheme, so check whether your job comes out of the £43.1 billion or its own scheme budget.

Treat HS2 as a case of its own. The Transport Secretary told Parliament on 19 May 2026 that finishing it will cost between £87.7 billion and £102.7 billion in 2025 prices, with the first trains from Old Oak Common to Birmingham due some time between May 2036 and October 2039. Cross most of its tunnels off your list, because HS2 Ltd said on 4 November 2026 that all deep bore tunnelling between London and Birmingham is complete.

Expect more Euston news next year. The twin tunnels on to Euston are the exception, a separate dig whose two boring machines are due to arrive in mid-2027.

FigureWhat it isSource and date
£43.1 billionNetwork Rail's funding to run, maintain and renew Britain's railway, April 2024 to March 2029Office of Rail and Road, 31 October 2023
£87.7 to £102.7 billionThe expected cost of completing HS2, in 2025 pricesDepartment for Transport statement to Parliament, 19 May 2026
£13 millionNetwork Rail's programme to replace Birmingham New Street's overhead power lines, the first phase of which runs from 24 to 28 December 2026Network Rail, 27 October 2026

Key dates for you between now and March 2027

Follow the Railways Bill, which creates Great British Railways, the new public body that will run and plan the railway. Its report stage in the House of Lords, when peers vote on changes, starts on 18 November 2026, and once the bill becomes law your client may have a new name within a year.

Note too that Great Western Railway's services move into public ownership on 13 December 2026, separately from the bill.

Allow for the Christmas closures. Huddersfield station closes after the last train on 24 December for 38 days of Transpennine Route Upgrade work. Birmingham New Street closes to trains from 24 to 28 December for the first phase of Network Rail's £13 million, three-year programme to replace its overhead power lines.

Read the latest rail news in The Wire below, with a link to each source. Open any project on our map to see when we last checked it. The lists below include Irish projects, which our Ireland volumes cover separately.

Not sure which of our reports you need? Email book@gridteamai.com and we'll point you to the right one. Figures checked 9 November 2026.

Know a rail project we have missed? Tell us at press@gridteamai.com.

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On our map: 47 rail projects

Most recently checked first.