Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that Network Rail's sale of railway arches was fully scrutinised; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Network Rail maintains its obligations to protect railway lines above property owned by another company.

The Department was fully engaged throughout the sale and approved the business case at each stage of the transaction process. As the NAO report, published on the 2 May 2019 makes clear, the transaction was managed and executed professionally and, based on the price paid for the portfolio, the sale represented value for money.

Network Rail has preserved in full its ability to prevent occupational tenants from damaging or endangering the railway or its operations, to inspect and carry out works required for the repair and renewal of railway infrastructure, and to take back assets as required to deliver railway-related projects. The leasehold structure of the sale was necessary to protect these rights. The ORR – as the regulator for the safety of the railway infrastructure – was satisfied that a leasehold sale would not negatively impact the railway.