Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the operational resilience of the East Coast Main Line to extreme weather events.

Climate change could increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather and Network Rail is planning now in order to provide a safe, reliable network in the future. Network Rail works closely with many governmental and specialist organisations to prepare our railway for the climate changes projected over the next few years, decades and beyond.

As part of its work in this area, Network Rail recently launched a taskforce led by independent experts to investigate and make recommendations on how the railway can develop its approach to resilience. East Coast route is working closely with the taskforce to take forward its recommendations to ensure the line is resilient to extreme weather.