RAIL operations across the length of the country are to be controlled from York after Network Rail opened a £25m operation centre in the city.

The Rail Operating Centre (ROC), which will eventually be the base for 400 workers, was officially opened following the completion of a seven-year project.

Created in a bid to reduce delays and improve capacity, the ROC will house the signalling and control operations across the entire network, replacing up to 1,000 signal controllers situated along services between London King's Cross and the Scottish border.

York Central MP Hugh Bayley opened the new centre, which has been built over the last two years on the edge of the York Central site.

He said: "I think this is an engineering marvel; it's the 21st century equivalent of the Forth Bridge.

"This is a really major venture for the railway industry and I'm really pleased and proud Network Rail and the other partners have chosen it should be here in York.

"York has been the centre of the railways for a century and it will continue to be so for years to come thanks to this.

"This enormous investment is a real vote of confidence in York as a rail city."

The operating centre is the largest in the country, and will also be home to controllers from rail operating firms East Coast and Northern Rail.

The consolidation of signalling and control into one site is set to generate savings of around £65m for Network Rail, and reduce delays by around 30 per cent.

Phil Verster, Network Rail route managing director, said: "It's not an over statement to say this is the beginning of a new age for how we control our railways.

"The whole of the rail industry right across the world is at the start of implementing this.

"We are really leading the world in terms of the control and operations of rail ways.

"It is very special for us to be in York as we are so entrenched and our roots go so deep thanks to what York has done for the rail community. "

In January, the ROC will replace Network Rail's current route control building at the back of York station, which the company hopes will free up more land closer to Leeman Road and the National Railway Museum, and ultimately support City of York Council's ambitions to develop the York Central tear drop site.

It is expected to take several years to migrate the entire Network Rail signalling operation into the ROC.