Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to invest in rail infrastructure in Lincolnshire
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Investment will see us continue to support ambitious and transformative growth plans for our railways, particularly in the North and Midlands. The way people use the railway is changing and we are investing to make sure it supports passengers, freight and the economy for the future.
The Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) commits to upgrading and improving line speeds and capacity on the East Coast Main Line, which will have benefits to services to Lincoln. We have provided Network Rail with early-stage development funding to begin consideration of how these ambitious route-wide plans can be delivered as efficiently as possible.
This IRP activity will build upon the £1.2 billion East Coast Enhancements Programme – a collection of infrastructure upgrades across the route, helping to deliver journey time, reliability and capacity improvements.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help prevent protesters from interfering with (a) roads, (b) airports, (c) railways and (d) other key national infrastructure.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (PCSC Act) came into force on 28th April 2022. This legislation raised the maximum penalty for wilful obstruction of the highway, ensuring offenders receive proportionate sentences for the disruption they cause. The PCSC Act 2022 also introduced a statutory offence of public nuisance and abolished the existing common law offence. This provides clarity to the police and potential offenders, giving clear notice of what conduct is forbidden.
The Public Order Act 2023, which received Royal Assent on 2nd May 2023, will improve the police’s ability to respond to highly disruptive tactics such as interfering with roads and other key national infrastructure. The lock-on offence, alongside the wilful obstruction of the highway offence, will enable police to deal effectively with protestors who interfere with roads.
In addition, the Public Order Act 2023 introduced the new offence of interference with key national infrastructure. This offence covers any behaviour which prevents or significantly delays the operation of key infrastructure. This includes airports, railways, printing presses and downstream oil and gas infrastructure. This offence will attract a maximum penalty of 12 months’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparability factor is applied to Wales in order to calculate Barnett consequential funding for each element of the Integrated Rail Plan core pipeline including (a) Northern Powerhouse Rail, (b) Transpennine Route Upgrade and (c) other rail schemes in the North and Midlands.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The UK Government is responsible for much of the rail infrastructure in Wales, and therefore spends money on this infrastructure rather than funding the Welsh Government to do so.
In line with this responsibility, the UK Government is currently delivering an ambitious programme to upgrade Welsh railways, including through the electrification of the Severn Tunnel and building a new station at Bow Street.
However at Spending Reviews, Barnett is set at department level and the comparability factor used therefore reflects funding across the whole department. The comparability factors used at Spending Review 2021 are published in the Statement of Funding Policy.
At the recent 2021 Spending Review the UK Government provided the Welsh Government with more than £18 billion on average each year over the Spending Review period. The Welsh Government will determine how to spend this on its devolved responsibilities.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been spent on heavy rail infrastructure in (a) England and (b) Wales in each of the last five years up to and including the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Between 2018-19 and 2021-22, £46.7bn was invested on High Speed Two infrastructure; Network Rail Operations, Maintenance and Renewals; and the Rail Network Enhancements Portfolio. Figures are sourced from DfT and NR published accounts and Network Rail reporting is consolidated for England and Wales. By its nature, expenditure on the railway in any one particular part of the country is likely to also benefit passengers from outside that immediate area who use that railway.
An annual breakdown is included in the table below:
2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
10.3 | 10.0 | 12.0 | 14.4 |
*Figures are in £billions, in nominal prices
** Rail Network Enhancements Portfolio figures do not include 3rd party-funded delivery
*** 2022-23 outturn data is provisional and excluded
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of inflation on the delivery of rail infrastructure projects.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We are ensuring record funding is invested in the country’s transport network, sustainably driving growth across the country while managing the pressures of inflation. We intend to publish the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline shortly which will confirm the latest position on all Network Rail schemes.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2023 to Question 133961 on Railways: South Wales, when funding will be made available for the delivery of the South Wales relief line upgrades.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Government will publish an update to the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline as soon as possible to provide clarity on funding for the delivery of rail upgrades in Wales.
We are fully committed to rail infrastructure improvement in Wales with recent investment totalling £390m. This is in addition to our recent announcement of £2.7m in funding to develop improvements along the South Wales Main Line in order to ease transport congestion along the South Wales corridor.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what requirement there is on railway companies to provide alternative transport in the event of infrastructure failure; and if he will require South Western Railway to provide a timetable of rail replacement buses for passengers seeking to get to school, college and work until the landslide near Hook on the South Western mainline is fully repaired.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In the event of an emergency event of infrastructure failure, such as the landslide near Hook, the Department expects train operators to provide rail replacement services as soon as practically possible. The Department’s understanding is that there are significant issues in sourcing bus replacement services at short notice which is an issue across the industry.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to introduce enhanced technology-based track inspections to detect rail embankment subsidence before landslides occur.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Network Rail, as the infrastructure manager of Britain’s railways, continue to review and update the monitoring techniques they use to detect precursors for earthwork failures on railway embankments they manage. These enhancements are informed by geotechnical experts and include increasing the use of remote sensing, photogrammetry, CCTV, distributed acoustic sensing and inclinometers. These are among other tools to enable Network Rail engineers to target measures to reinforce slopes, add protection and improve resilience in the long term.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much and what proportion of the £3.6 million allocated to rail infrastructure has been spent; and when he plans to spend the remaining proportion of that funding.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Since 2017, the DfT and Innovate UK have run six First of a Kind (FOAK) competitions. So far, we have awarded over £38m to 125 projects led by a range of organisations to support innovations that help to address priorities for the railway identified by both government and industry. This includes projects funded under FOAK 2022, announced in November.
You have clarified that your question relates to the first FOAK competition, which launched in October 2017 and offered £3.5m to bids focusing specifically on implementing innovative technology on railway vehicles, rather than rail infrastructure. Through a scoring process by independent experts, 10 winning projects were selected, to a total value of £3.375m.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 33 of the Autumn Statement, CP 751 published on 17 November 2022, whether the commitment to Build East-West Rail includes building connection stages 2 and 3.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Autumn Statement recommitted to the government’s transformative growth plans for our railways including East West Rail. Connection Stage 2 (Bletchley to Bedford) and Connection Stage 3 (Bedford to Cambridge) of East West Rail are at development stage, and options for the sections were consulted on as part of a wide-ranging non-statutory consultation from March-June 2021. An update on the project will be provided in due course. As a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), EWR Co. is planning to submit a Development Consent Order (DCO) to secure the relevant planning and permitted development powers.