Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2016 to Question 22573, what equipment and buildings of any kind situated along the side of the Bexleyheath rail line were damaged in the landslides which blocked the line during the week beginning 11 January 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Network Rail has advised that a signalling control cabinet was pushed over by the recent landslip at Barnehurst, and then had to be moved to a location away from the affected area to enable access to temporarily stabilise the landslide. This involved moving the staging on which the cabinet was sited, the cabinet itself, and the cables.

Network Rail further advises that the earthwork was last examined on 5 February 2015, when its condition showed no signs of impending failure. Its condition prior to the earthworks failure was such that its next inspection would have been three years from that date.