Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent comparative assessment has he made of the rate of rail electrification (a) the UK and (b) EU counterparts in each of the last three years.

In the last three years (for which data is available), we have completed almost 700 track miles of electrification in England and Wales. There has not been a comparative assessment of the rate of rail electrification in other countries. However, Departmental ministers and officials engage with international partners to discuss issues of mutual interest, which include electrification practice. In Decarbonising Transport: a Better, Cleaner Britain, we have committed to delivering ‘an ambitious, sustainable, and cost-effective programme of electrification, guided by the Network Rail-led Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy’.