Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support electrification on the Southport to Wigan Rail line.

At present the Department does not have any plans to electrify the Southport to Wigan line. In the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, the Government committed to delivering a net zero rail network by 2050, with sustained carbon reductions in rail along the way. To help deliver this, we will electrify additional lines and deploy battery and hydrogen trains on some lines, where it makes economic and operational sense. The Great British Railways Transition Team will bring forward costed options for the Government to carefully consider in terms of overall deliverability and affordability.