section_path: Sectors/Service industries/Transport, storage and communication
section_name: Transport, storage and communication
paragraph_text: Transport, storage and communication
  
  The transport and storage industry added a gross value of £59.2 billion to the UK economy in 2011 and the telecommunication industry added a gross value of £25.1 billion in the same year.
  
  The UK has a total road network of 246,700 miles (397,025 km) with 31,400 miles (50,533 km) of major roads, including 2,300 miles (3,701 km) of motorway. The railway infrastructure, in Great Britain, is owned by Network Rail which has 19,291 miles (31,046 km) of railway lines, of which 9,866 miles (15,878 km) is open for traffic. There are a further 206.5 miles (332.3 km) of track in Northern Ireland, owned and operated by Northern Ireland Railways.
  
  The government is to spend £56 billion on a new high-speed railway line, HS2, with the first phase from London to Birmingham costing £27 billion. Crossrail (later branded the Elizabeth line), which was completed and officially opened in 2022, is Europe's largest infrastructure project with a £15 billion projected cost.
  
  National Highways is the government-owned company responsible for trunk roads and motorways in England apart from the privately owned and operated M6 Toll.
  
  In the year from February 2017 to January 2018, UK airports handled a total of 284.8 million passengers. In that period the three largest airports were London Heathrow Airport (78.0 million passengers), Gatwick Airport (45.6 million passengers) and Manchester Airport (27.8 million passengers). Heathrow, located 14 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (23.3 km) west of the capital, has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the world. It is the hub for the UK flag carrier British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. London's six commercial airports form the world's largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic with 171 million passengers in 2017.
  
  The transport and storage industry added a gross value of £59.2 billion to the UK economy in 2011 and the telecommunication industry added a gross value of £25.1 billion in the same year.
  
  The UK has a total road network of 246,700 miles (397,025 km) with 31,400 miles (50,533 km) of major roads, including 2,300 miles (3,701 km) of motorway. The railway infrastructure, in Great Britain, is owned by Network Rail which has 19,291 miles (31,046 km) of railway lines, of which 9,866 miles (15,878 km) is open for traffic. There are a further 206.5 miles (332.3 km) of track in Northern Ireland, owned and operated by Northern Ireland Railways.
  
  The government is to spend £56 billion on a new high-speed railway line, HS2, with the first phase from London to Birmingham costing £27 billion. Crossrail (later branded the Elizabeth line), which was completed and officially opened in 2022, is Europe's largest infrastructure project with a £15 billion projected cost.
  
  National Highways is the government-owned company responsible for trunk roads and motorways in England apart from the privately owned and operated M6 Toll.
  
  In the year from February 2017 to January 2018, UK airports handled a total of 284.8 million passengers. In that period the three largest airports were London Heathrow Airport (78.0 million passengers), Gatwick Airport (45.6 million passengers) and Manchester Airport (27.8 million passengers). Heathrow, located 14 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (23.3 km) west of the capital, has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the world. It is the hub for the UK flag carrier British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. London's six commercial airports form the world's largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic with 171 million passengers in 2017.
  
  The transport and storage industry added a gross value of £59.2 billion to the UK economy in 2011 and the telecommunication industry added a gross value of £25.1 billion in the same year.
  
  The UK has a total road network of 246,700 miles (397,025 km) with 31,400 miles (50,533 km) of major roads, including 2,300 miles (3,701 km) of motorway. The railway infrastructure, in Great Britain, is owned by Network Rail which has 19,291 miles (31,046 km) of railway lines, of which 9,866 miles (15,878 km) is open for traffic. There are a further 206.5 miles (332.3 km) of track in Northern Ireland, owned and operated by Northern Ireland Railways.
  
  The government is to spend £56 billion on a new high-speed railway line, HS2, with the first phase from London to Birmingham costing £27 billion. Crossrail (later branded the Elizabeth line), which was completed and officially opened in 2022, is Europe's largest infrastructure project with a £15 billion projected cost.
  
  National Highways is the government-owned company responsible for trunk roads and motorways in England apart from the privately owned and operated M6 Toll.
  
  In the year from February 2017 to January 2018, UK airports handled a total of 284.8 million passengers. In that period the three largest airports were London Heathrow Airport (78.0 million passengers), Gatwick Airport (45.6 million passengers) and Manchester Airport (27.8 million passengers). Heathrow, located 14 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (23.3 km) west of the capital, has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the world. It is the hub for the UK flag carrier British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. London's six commercial airports form the world's largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic with 171 million passengers in 2017.