Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been spent to date on the planned electrification of the (a) Midland Mainline north of Kettering to Sheffield and Nottingham, (b) Great Western route west of Cardiff, (c) line between Windermere and Oxenholme and (d) Transpennine route between Manchester and Leeds.

New technologies mean that we can improve journeys for passengers sooner than expected with state of the art trains, instead of carrying out disruptive electrification works along these routes.

Around £50m has been spent to date on development of the first three schemes. An investment decision will be made early next year on the Transpennine Route Upgrade, which is currently in the development phase. We are continuing to develop all options for this major route upgrade and have spent around £100m including delivering an improvement at Micklefield in West Yorkshire at Easter of this year which will improve reliability and train performance.