Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which of the rail improvement projects proposed by Network Rail’s East Coast Main Line Route Study will be prioritised for investment; and how those projects will be funded.

We have already announced that we will invest up to £780m to deliver upgrades to the East Coast Main Line by the early 2020s. This is on top of the £400m invested since 2014 in power upgrades between London and Doncaster and infrastructure improvements elsewhere across the route. The Department is working with stakeholders, including Transport for the North, to identify and assess further potential enhancements for the East Coast Main Line. We will take staged decisions to progress further enhancements through the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline process.