Britain's railway network is the most improved in Europe since the 1990s, a new report has shown.

The European Commission used 14 different factors when it assessed which country's rail infrastructure has been transformed the most in the last 20 years or so and the UK came out on top in four of them.

According to the in-depth study, Britain outperformed all of the continent's other major rail networks, including Germany (seventh), France (tenth) and Italy (23rd).

Network Rail's chief executive David Higgins said the UK's rail system declined in the 1990s and the organisation has been working extremely hard to improve things ever since.

"This report shows both the progress that we have made in driving forward our performance, and the very real challenges and opportunities that the growth in demand poses for us all," he remarked.

Network Rail has pledged to spend £37 billion on the railways before the end of the decade, while the government has also outlined hugely ambitious plans for a new high-speed service that will slash journey times between London and the north of England.