The rail infrastructure firm said the planned cuts were necessary because its budget for the next five years is being trimmed by ВЈ4bn. The jobs will be axed by April 2011, but Network Rail said it had yet to finalise numbers and timings.
A statement from Network Rail said: "We have a clear commitment to the British people to reduce the costs of running the railway."
"Our plans to restructure our maintenance teams will improve the way we operate the network. We are discussing our plans with our people and their union representatives and no final decisions have been made."
ADVERTISEMENTThe firm, which currently employs a total of 33,000 people across the country, said it hoped to avoid any compulsory redundancies.
Earlier this week, Network Rail proposed the building of a new ВЈ34bn high-speed railway line linking Scotland and London by 2030.
The line would serve Birmingham and Manchester, getting passengers from Glasgow to London in just two hours and 16 minutes, the rail firm said.
However, the government, which would make any final decision, said assessments of the costs and environmental issues involved needed to be carried out before it could approve any plans.
The move, which amounts to about 5% of the workforce, is likely to reignite a safety row between the company and unions.
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