Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, by what date he expects electrification of the Great Western Line to Swansea and Valleys Lines in Wales to be completed.
On 25 June the Secretary of State announced that Great Western was a top priority for delivery. We are committed to electrifying the Great Western line to Swansea and are contributing £125million to the Welsh Government’s Valley Lines electrification scheme. A huge amount of investment will be going into Wales, in terms not only of the track, but the new trains.
The Secretary of State also described some of the challenges Network Rail is facing. That is why he has asked the new chair of Network Rail to develop proposals by the Autumn for how the rail upgrade programme will be carried out.