Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress she has made on the Midlands Rail Hub West Chord link; and when this work will be completed.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the 2025 Spending Review the Chancellor committed to progress the next stage of Midlands Rail Hub, building on £123m previously released. Network Rail are procuring a contractor to design and build the scheme. The western scope of MRH is due to be completed in the early 2030s.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Local Transport) had with the Mayor of the West Midlands on Aldridge Train Station on 15 July 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Mayor Richard Parker and I meet regularly, with discussions covering a range of transport issues.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Transport of 8 July 2025 on Road and Rail Projects, Official Report, columns 822-3, whether it is her policy that the full cost of the midlands rail hub should be paid for by her Department; and when she expects the midlands rail hub to be completed.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A sum of £123m has been allocated by the Government to deliver detailed designs of the first phase of MRH. The designs will produce a more accurate cost estimate, a delivery schedule and subsequently form the basis of a ‘Final Investment Decision’. This phase is due to enter service in the early 2030s. The costs and delivery timescales for later phases are subject to further development work and subsequent investment decisions.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding her Department has allocated to the M54 to M6 link road in Staffordshire; and how she plans to allocate this funding across the Spending Review period.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On the 8th July, the Transport Secretary announced that the scheme will be progressing, following on from the Spending Review in June. £24 billion of capital funding is being provided between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to maintain and improve motorways and local roads. Scheme costs for the Strategic Road Network schemes including the M54 to M6 Link Road will be confirmed as part of the setting of the third road investment strategy (RIS3), planned to be published by the end of March next year.
The delivery timetable for the scheme will also be confirmed during the setting of the next Road Investment Strategy [RIS3], which begins in April 2026.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her Department's planned timetable is for completing the M54 to M6 link road in Staffordshire.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On the 8th July, the Transport Secretary announced that the scheme will be progressing, following on from the Spending Review in June. £24 billion of capital funding is being provided between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to maintain and improve motorways and local roads. Scheme costs for the Strategic Road Network schemes including the M54 to M6 Link Road will be confirmed as part of the setting of the third road investment strategy (RIS3), planned to be published by the end of March next year.
The delivery timetable for the scheme will also be confirmed during the setting of the next Road Investment Strategy [RIS3], which begins in April 2026.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Transport of 8 July 2025 on Road and Rail Projects, Official Report, columns 822-3, what her Department's timetable is for providing more information on its plans for the midlands rail hub.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The first phase of Midlands Rail Hub enables additional rail services between Birmingham and South Wales, and the South West, and on Birmingham’s Cross City Line. Subsequent phases are at an earlier stage of development but include the potential for additional rail services from Birmingham to the East Midlands and between Worcester and Hereford.
The Government’s commitment to deliver detailed designs of the first phase of MRH will produce a more accurate delivery schedule in due course. This phase is due to enter service in the early 2030s. The delivery timescales for later phases are subject to further development work and subsequent investment decisions.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to increase capacity on the West Coast Main Line southern section, in the context of the decision by the Office of Rail and Road to reject the open access application from Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The delivery of HS2 will almost double long-distance rail capacity between London and the West Midlands, significantly improving the heavily congested southern section of the West Coast Main Line and releasing capacity for other services on that section of the line. Unfortunately, following significant cost increases and delays as a result of poor management, HS2 will not be delivered by 2033 as was previously planned; the government has taken urgent action to bring the project under control and tasked new HS2 Ltd CEO with undertaking a comprehensive reset of the programme, which will include setting updated cost and delivery schedule estimates.
In the meantime, the West Coast Main Line will continue to be capacity constrained making it virtually impossible for additional train services to reliably come into operation, which is the primary reason why the Office of Rail and Road declined the Wrexham, Shropshire, and Midlands Railway’s application.
While the government will not reverse the previous government’s decision to cancel HS2 Phase 2, we acknowledge concerns about future capacity north of Birmingham and hope to say more on connectivity in the Midlands and the North in the coming months. In the meantime, we are investing to increase power supply on the southern end of the West Coast Main Line, to enable the introduction of new electric services and support future growth and performance improvements on the route.
Further, my Department remains committed to a role for Open Access where it provides genuine benefits to passengers without disproportionately impacting taxpayers, which is why we provided support for Wrexham, Shropshire, and Midlands Railway’s application. However, we must equally ensure that Open Access does not have detrimental impacts upon the performance of the network. It is the role of the regulator to take access decisions informed by assessments of capacity.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding her Department plans to allocate to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council for fixing potholes in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The West Midlands Combined Authority, of which Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council is a constituent authority, is in receipt of £1.05bn of devolved City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) funding for the period 2022/23 to 2026/27, and has been allocated £2.4bn of Transport for City Regions (TCR) funding for the period up until 2031/32. These funding settlements are for investment in the West Midlands’ local transport network and consolidate local highways maintenance funding. It is for the Combined Authority to determine how this funding is allocated across the city region in line with local priorities.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2025 to Question 65283 on Railways: Electrification, how many miles of electrification will be delivered from that funding in each of those three years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold estimates for how much electrification will be delivered on a yearly basis, as the rate of delivery can vary as projects progress and proposals are finalised in the development stage.
Network Rail publishes yearly statistics for electrification delivered annually in Great Britain as part of their annual return. These returns can be found here: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/publications-and-resources/regulatory-and-licensing/annual-return/
Electrification delivery over the course of the coming three years will be published here in the normal way.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Office of Rail and Road’s decision to reject the open access application from Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway (WSMR) on passengers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department remains committed to Open Access where it provides genuine benefits for passengers through improved connectivity and does not disproportionately impact taxpayers or performance of the network. That is why we supported WSMR’s application, acknowledging the benefits that it would provide to passengers in the communities served while noting potential capacity constraints on the West Coast Main Line.
Access to the railway network, however, is a decision for the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) in its capacity as independent regulator, and it is only right that ORR considers capacity and impacts to passengers across the network more broadly as key parts of its assessments. In this instance, ORR deemed that WSMR’s proposed services could not practicably be introduced due to lack of capacity on the West Coast Main Line.