Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to consider options for creating a new fast train service between London Waterloo and Weymouth.

We will consider all options for improving journey times on the route to Weymouth within the infrastructure and operational constraints. The draft Wessex Route Study was published by Network Rail for consultation on 3 November 2014, setting out the strategic vision for the route over the next 30 years. The consultation is open until 17 February 2015 and responses will be published in due course.

Responses to the consultation will feed in to the final version of the Wessex Route Study, which is due to be published next year. This will then help to inform the Government’s priorities for the next Rail Investment Strategy, for the period 2019-2024 (control period 6).