Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the merits of the request from the Peninsula Rail Task Force for funding of £600,000 for the Speed to the West study; and if he will make a statement.

The request from the Peninsula Rail Task Force for additional funding of £600,000 for the “Speed to the West” project represents the first stage in developing a new enhancement scheme to supplement a planned renewal within the current Control Period (CP5). It is estimated to cost an additional £20-30m to deliver, which is currently unfunded.

The enhancement project would raise line speeds from 60 to 75mph for 14 miles between Plymouth and Totnes. This would generate estimated time savings of up to 3 mins 8 secs towards London and up to 2 mins 24 secs towards Penzance.