Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on the capacity improvement scheme planned for the Hope Valley line.

Network Rail have completed the single option design for the railway infrastructure scheme proposed in the Hope Valley and are working on plans to progress the work to the next stage ‘Decision to Deliver’. Network Rail are developing a procurement plan to deliver the scheme, and are undertaking pre-construction planning to enable this scheme to be delivered as quickly as possible. They will be working with the train operators to assess the best way to deliver the scheme with the least disruption to passengers.