Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the sustainability of the level of Network Rail debt.

As reported in their Annual Report and Accounts 2019, Network Rail has £54.1bn of historical debt, of which £30.6bn has resulted from loan funding from the Department for Transport over the course of Railway Control Period 5.

Network Rail have been restricted from raising any further commercial debt since they were reclassified to the public sector in 2014. Since the start of Railway Control Period 6 in April 2019, the Department has chosen to provide funding for operating, maintaining and enhancing the railway through grant rather than loan funding. The level of debt is therefore not expected to rise from its current level.