The operator of Britain's railway network plans to cut 2,000 jobs over the next three years as it tries to rein in costs.
Network Rail, which took over from previous operator Railtrack last year after its financial collapse, announced the job losses as it released a 10-year business plan aimed at improving train services and boosting efficiency.
Network Rail Chairman Ian McAllister said the some 2,000 job cuts will largely come out of administration staff and contracting staff.
Unions have threatened industrial action over the job losses.
Even with cost cuts, Network Rail will need billions of pounds to carry out planned track improvements and new equipment for testing and repair, a spokesman said. That money is most likely to come from rail users and taxpayers.
Since the once state-owned railways were broken up and sold off in the 1980s, the network has been blighted by fatal crashes. Train companies have struggled to turn a profit, and passengers are still carried on decrepit, decades-old trains.