Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government supports the delivery of the Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme; what financial settlement the Government plans to award Network Rail to deliver that scheme; and what his timeframe is for delivery of that scheme.

The Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme seeks to address capacity constraints and improve service performance on the Brighton main line. While this scheme would offer valuable improvements to services on the line, it will require a significant amount of public funding.

Although I am unable to discuss the status of individual projects in development at this time, it is becoming clear that the pandemic has brought about large change to commuting behaviours requiring government to make difficult decisions to bring rail spending back to affordable levels. I remain committed to publishing an update to the Rail Network Enhancement Portfolio, thereby confirming the status of individual schemes across England and Wales, including the Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme.