Rail Infrastructure Resilience: Storms and Floods

Earl of Kinnoull Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I think the previous chairman of Network Rail recalls one of the previous Secretaries of State telling him to do something like that—and, as an obedient public servant, that chairman went off and did it. The lines north of Exeter to which the noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon, referred are, rather unfortunately, closing for two weeks in just a few days’ time. They are being closed in the winter season, when use is less, although it will still be inconvenient, precisely because it is cheaper and much more efficient—and the work gets done better—to do large-scale track renewal and maintenance of drainage and other structures. That cannot be done everywhere but, where it can be done, the noble Lord is absolutely right that the railways should do more of it. The co-ordination that will come from Great British Railways will enable more of that sort of work to be done.

[The Earl of Kinnoull (CB)]

My Lords, Network Rail—being, of course, a state entity—does not buy third-party insurance from anywhere, but the insurance industry has an amazing number of modellers and information about the natural perils in the United Kingdom, particularly the sweet-water peril and the salt water peril that we are discussing. Can the Minister tell us whether the insurance industry is being tapped for its expertise in trying to manage and predict these perils?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

The noble Earl asks a very pertinent question, and I will write to him. I believe that is true, but I cannot say for certain. Following the Carmont disaster, when people were killed as a result of an earthworks failure, the noble Lord, Lord Mair, wrote a very powerful report on earthworks maintenance for Network Rail, and Dame Julia Slingo did similarly on the weather. During my tenure at Network Rail, it started by buying the cheapest weather forecast it could. Dame Julia has pointed out that you can now forecast the weather in two-kilometre squares throughout the country; that is what Network Rail now does, and it helps prevention. I take what the noble Earl says very seriously and will write to him to make sure that the knowledge in the insurance industry is used.