Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made a comparative assessment of the whole-life costs of (a) full and (b) partial railway electrification taking into account (i) infrastructure and (ii) rolling stock including (A) fully electric (B) battery, (C) battery/electric, (D) bi-mode and (E) tri-mode trains.

The department is working closely with Network Rail to develop updated plans for where and when electrification is required to deliver a fully decarbonised railway, that considers both track and train, as well as the recent development of battery technology on the railway. As part of this process, the Department is assessing whole-life costs of both full and partial electrification with regard toall rolling stock traction types in order to decarbonise in the most cost-effective way.