Earlier this month, the new chief executive of Network Rail admitted that the £1bn scheme to convert the line linking London to south Wales from diesel to electric trains project has gone over budget because of rising costs.

This is one of a number of projects Network Rail is undertaking, including Thameslink for £6.5bn, Crossrail for £2.3bn, the £600m Northern Hub scheme to increase capacity, £900m of improvements around Reading and multimillion pound station overhauls at London Bridge and Birmingham New Street.

The organisation is aiming to upgrade the UK's rail network so it can carry more trains and passengers, and by 2019 it is aiming to run an extra 335,000 trains a year.

As the UK's railways enter their most extensive phase of upgrades since the Victorian era, it's imperative that the new technology can withstand the added pressures it will face in the future and meet the ever changing safety guidelines.

With the new IEC 61439-2 electrical safety standards coming into force this year, all new electrical switchgear needs to be independently tested and issued with a certificate to verify it complies with this exacting standard, ensuring electrical protection for people and their environment.

By incorporating low voltage, intelligent switchboards which deliver superior safety, reliability and performance, operators will be able to ensure safe operation, trusted reliability and optimum performance. Losing electrical power is a worst case scenario for any rail service provider, as the knock on effect to customers and staff can be catastrophic. Therefore, to ensure the risk of any power failure is reduce as far as possible, switchboards incorporating the latest intelligent electrical circuit breakers and devices which allow remote monitoring of the electrical network via internet or SIM should be incorporated into each upgrade.

Intelligent switchboards communicate their status real-time and automatically alert operational crew of an overload or situation where power failure could occur if not dealt with. Also, if a power failure does occur, serious consideration should be given to incorporating a facility to "hot swop" out the circuit protection, allowing rapid replacement without the need to switch off the whole switchboard.

Being informed in real-time of the status of the electrical network, means that any downtime required for maintenance can be accurately scheduled to fit rail timetables. An intelligent switchboard can also greatly reduce energy costs by providing visibility for optimising loadings, motor operation, trace problems, precise control, identify trends and troubleshoot problems before they result in a costly power loss.

In addition to helping boost power system reliability and productivity, intelligent electrical devices such as progressive starters and variable speed drives can synchronize motor operation to load capacity, reducing peak energy consumption by up to 50%.

Space is also something that is becoming increasingly important for switchgear development. With electrical switchrooms taking up valuable space, there is always a premium to be had by operators specifying main electrical distribution switchboards that can reduce the size of these areas.

New compact modular, standardised LV boards are designed to accommodate more features with less volume and weight, with specially adapted characteristics such as space-saving drawers which directly connected to the vertical busbar are ideal for rail applications. It is vital for modern rail services to have electrical switchboards which deliver superior safety, trusted reliability and optimum performance. Switchboards must also comply with a whole set of requirements linked to increasingly sophisticated and challenging applications and changing international standards, while also offering increased productivity and rapid return on investment.

By ensuring electrical equipment is built to these exacting standards, operators have equipment which significantly reduces the risk of supply loss and decreases maintenance requirements while increasing reliability.

The new equipment also needs to strike the right balance between high level performance, both in electrical distribution and motor control, with open-endedness to continually satisfy the specific needs of rail operation.

It should also deliver the highest possible level of safety for people and installation, even in the most demanding conditions and have built-in peak reliability both short and long term, guaranteeing availability as well as delivering a constantly superior level of performance with ease and speed of use and maintenance.