Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of railway engineering works on the economy in the South West in December 2024.

Network Rail’s programme of railway upgrades in December is crucial to ensure its Western route continues to run reliably and safely. Economic impact assessments are not routinely undertaken for major engineering work, however, where work is likely to result in disruption the planning assumption is that it is undertaken when the railway is least used.