Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will release £11 million of funding from his Department's budget for track upgrades to the Shrewsbury to Birmingham railway line to reduce travel time between those stations from under an hour to 45 minutes.

The Department undertakes rigorous analysis of the potential benefits and costs of proposed schemes before making funding decisions. Midlands Connect have previously estimated that the full costs for the complete delivery of scheme improvements to be around £200m. It is developing a strategic outline business case for this project which the Department expects to receive by the end of 2021. Any decision on further development will be taken in line with the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline policy, which will include consideration of business case and affordability, in the context of the wider rail enhancements portfolio.