Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the letter sent to his Department by representatives of rail industry bodies, businesses and campaign groups on the need for an immediate programme of rail electrification.

I am grateful for the work done by the rail industry to learn lessons from previous electrification, and to support work led by Network Rail to develop options for rail decarbonisation.

As further electrification of the network will play an important role in our plans to decarbonise the railway, the Department will continue to consider carefully rail industry views about how to deliver electrification schemes in a way that is affordable and delivers value for money.