Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) projected end date is, (b) forecast spend in the financial year 2023-24 is, (c) initial planned whole life costs were and (d) delivery confidence assessment is of the TransPennine Route Upgrade; and when each of those figures were last reviewed.

The current forecast end date for the TransPennine Route Upgrade programme is between 2036 and 2041, but benefits will be released in phases from 2025.

Forecast spend in 2023-24 is circa £650m and the total programme investment is estimated between £9.0bn and £11.5bn. Whole life costs are estimated at £12.1bn: up-front capital expenditure accounts for the significant proportion of this. All of these figures are from the 2021 business case; an update is currently in progress.

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority rated the TRU programme’s delivery confidence as Amber in January and May 2021.