Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has held with HS2 Limited on whether rail lines through Oxford will be used by freight services for the movement of construction materials for HS2.

HS2 Ltd has reviewed capacity availability on rail lines that pass through Oxford, as well as most rail lines that pass within 50km of the Phase One route.

Since July 2017, HS2 Ltd has been working with their main works civils contractors (MWCC) to develop scheme designs and the construction programme for the line of route works. This includes capacity planning on rail lines to move material in and out for the project.

Although speculative construction material suppliers may have made capacity searches, HS2 Ltd can confirm that there have been no line capacity searches by their MWCC on rail lines that pass through Oxford to date.

As material origins and waste deposition location certainty increases, capacity planning analysis will accelerate over the next six to twelve months.