Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16199 on Railway signals: Surbiton, what progress has been made on (a) Network Rail's review to understand the cause of the signal failure and limit the impacts of a similar future event; (b) South Western Railway's review of their communications plan to ensure that passengers are kept well informed in the event of any future disruption; and what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of those reviews.

Following the recent disruption at Surbiton, Network Rail undertook a review of the causes and mitigations to avoid a similar event occurring in future. Consideration is being given to whether the signalling system needs upgrading earlier than currently planned. At the same time South Western Railway are progressing a number of projects to improve their messaging to customers.