Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to use new technological solutions to improve the running of the railways.

Research, development and innovation to improve the running of the railway is primarily the responsibility of the rail industry. The cross-industry Executive Technical Leadership Group is chaired by Network Rail, and owns the current Rail Technical Strategy, which sets out a vision for rail and how technology can help meet the objectives of cutting carbon, reducing cost, increasing capacity and improving the customer experience. The strategy is currently being revised.