Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to improve signalling on the railway between (a) Exeter and Plymouth and (b) Reading and Exeter; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect of improved signalling on those routes.

Signal failures are one of the biggest causes of delays on the network. For that reason, Network Rail has an extensive programme underway to improve both the standard and reliability of signalling across the national network.

The Western Route is gradually benefitting from transfer of signalling to a single control centre in Didcot, and this process will eventually encompass the entire route, including those stretches mentioned by my Hon Friend. This will allow a faster and better coordinated response to delays across the route.

My Hon Friend will also be aware of the very large investment which is being made by Network Rail, Cornwall Council and others into the Totnes-Penzance resignalling scheme, which will radically improve the train flow and reliability. It will do this by allowing bidirectional running on the line, meaning that maintenance and disruption can be managed vastly more effectively.

Further details of Network Rail’s plans can be found at the links below. These documents also provide information on the benefits of improved signalling:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/publications/strategic-business-plan-for cp5/

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/publications/delivery-plans/control-period-5/cp5-delivery-plan/