Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the (a) cost of and (b) timeframe for the re-signalling of Cambridge junction.

Cambridge Junction is due to be re-signalled with European Train Control System technology, also known as digital signalling, as part of the East Coast Digital programme (ECDP).

The overall cost of the East Coast Digital Programme is around £1.9bn. This is made up of funding from the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline and Network Rail infrastructure renewals funding over Control Period 7 (2024-2029). Programme costs have not been broken down further to particular areas and would be complicated by factors such as the overall cost of fitting trains with the equipment required to use digital signalling, and the cost of training railway staff.

The ECDP will implement digital signalling on the East Coast Mainline southern section by 2030, with junctions along this route progressively upgraded in line with asset sustainability and alignment with the overall programme schedule. The re-signalling in the area around Cambridge Junction is expected to be ready from February this year for trains fitted with digital signalling equipment.