Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April 2019 to Question 249315 on Railways, how many proposals for a Southern Rail Link to Heathrow were received following his market-led proposals invitation of 20 March 2018, how many of those proposals remain under active consideration by his Department; on what dates he last (a) met and (b) corresponded with the promoters of schemes under active consideration; and when he plans to announce the process for selecting a preferred developer.

30 market-led proposals were received in response to the Call for Ideas launched in March 2018. Due to commercial confidentiality we are not able to disclose details of meetings or correspondence with particular proposals. The Department responded to those proposals in December 2018 and continued engagement with 10 proposals which had the potential to be financially credible without government support.

Separately to the Call for Ideas, a Southern Rail Link to Heathrow Market Sounding was also launched in March 2018. Following the publication of the Market Sounding Report in December 2018 the Department has been working to further develop and clarify the outcomes we want to be delivered from this project and consider appropriate commercial and procurement models. This work will be made available to the market by the summer along with further engagement opportunities.