Story Contracting is set for major expansion and job creation after winning a £38 million contract with Network Rail.

The Carlisle-headquartered infrastructure firm has been chosen to deliver contracts for one of England’s main rail routes.

It has been awarded framework contracts for structures work on the south of the London North Western rail route, which covers Crewe to London, and property work from Preston to Crewe.

The route is home to the West Coast Mainline, which is the busiest mixed use railway in Europe.

The contract will be completed over two years and Story Contracting has established a new regional office in Birmingham to deliver the work.

It is part of CP6 – Network Rail’s five-year programme during which it plans to spend £35bn making Britain’s railways more reliable.

The new contract win follows the recent announcement that Story Scotland – a business division of Story Contracting – has been awarded up to £135m-worth of work north of the border with Network Rail.

Story Rail director Ian Purdham said: “We are delighted, and personally I’m delighted for the team. We’ve worked immensely hard on developing our client relationship, on winning these tenders and growing the business. We are looking forward to working with Network Rail in a collaborative, integrated team for the benefit of Britain’s railways and its passengers.”

The new work will allow Story Contracting to employ around 25 additional staff over the coming year.

It will also create new strategic partnerships with the wider supply chain.

Story Contracting chief executive Jason Butterworth said: “We are thrilled with the contract wins which reinforce our reputation for delivering quality projects safely, on time and to budget.

“We were very much a north-focused business, so setting our strategic goal to move further south and seeing that come together has been absolutely fantastic."

Story Contracting was founded in 1987 by Fred Story and has now grown to 700 employees across its five divisions which include rail, construction, plant, Story Scotland and Reiver Homes.