Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many planned possessions have been cancelled by Network Rail since 1 January 2015; and on how many such occasions were train and freight operators consulted in advance.

Network Rail is an arm’s-length public sector body and the number, timing and cancellation of its disruptive engineering works are operational matters for the company. Decisions on the planning, timing and duration of engineering works are agreed jointly in advance between Network Rail and the relevant passenger and freight train operators under the rail industry’s national possessions planning regime which is overseen by the independent Office of Rail Regulation.