A notable recommendation is the enhancement of the loading gauge from Southampton and the East Anglia coast ports to the West Coast Main Line (WCML), as most growth was expected in the carriage of deep-sea containers and coal for the electricity-generating industry, mainly for the Trent valley and Aire valley power stations.
Short term: Freight operators' requirements to be included in the December 2008 recasting of the WCML timetable; some services to be rerouted away from Stafford, via Macclesfield; new loop at Hartford, Cheshire.
Medium term: W10 clearance west of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) to Leicester and Nuneaton, together with other capacity enhancements to avoid the southern part of the WCML; also W10 clearance of the Barking to Gospel Oak line to allow trains from North Thameside to avoid the NLL, leaving more paths for Haven ports trains.
Short term: Timetable changes and train lengthening to/from Immingham (already implemented by the time of the RUS publication); Brigg line and Wrawby junction enhancements; Hull Docks branch partial doubling; restoring of Boldon East curve to provide access to Durham Coast line avoiding congested parts of ECML.
Completed: Annan-Gretna redoubling,[10] Brigg line and Wrawby junction enhancements,[11] partial doubling of the Hull Docks branch.
[clarification needed] The UK Government's Department for Transport (DfT) published in July 2007 a White Paper 'Delivering a Sustainable Railway',[17] intended to provide strategic direction for the rail industry.
This contained the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) of funds available, covering the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2014, in accordance with a statutory duty set by the Railways Act 2005 to state quinquennially the quantum of public expenditure to be devoted to rail.