Botched UK rail revamp forces assets selloff to plug £2.5b funding gap

London

NETWORK Rail Ltd, the state-backed owner of Britain's train tracks, plans to sell off assets spanning station shops to locomotive depots after a botched project to electrify key routes resulted in a £2.5 billion (S$5.3 billion) funding gap.

The auction will contribute about £1.8 billion, with a further £700 million to be raised through borrowings after the government agreed to ease existing caps, London-based Network Rail said in a statement. Net borrowings stood at £39.2 billion as at Sept 30, 25 times its six-month net cash.