RAIL is fundamental to the prosperity of London, the Thames Valley, the Cotswolds, West Country and the South West regions that we serve.

For the last few years we, as train operators and infrastructure providers, have been working closer so that we put the passenger as the forefront of everything we do.

We have already started to see benefits of this closer cooperation.

Today, we join others from across the country to take this collaboration further.

We have launched our plan for changing and improving the railway that will secure almost £85bn of extra economic benefits to the country, improve journeys for our customers and better connect our communities, within our region and beyond.

Only this plan, delivered by a changing partnership railway, will secure the economic benefits from current investment by the public and private sectors, and enable further improvement and investment.

To get there we are making four commitments for change – for our economy, our customers, our communities and our people.

We will use these commitments to frame and guide our decision making from now on, and we will deliver – publishing a progress report every year – because the railway is so important to our region’s future prosperity.

Andy Cooper Managing director CrossCountry

Mark Hopwood Managing director Great Western Railway

Mark Langman Western route managing director Network Rail