Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Governance for Rail Investment Projects (GRIP) system for assessing rail enhancement schemes is still being used for any schemes; and if so, what are the criteria for determining that GRIP is to be used.

GRIP is Network Rail’s project delivery methodology, developed to manage project delivery and governance. All rail infrastructure investment projects are subject to GRIP. The Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline (RNEP) approach separates rail enhancements from the periodic review process which determines the five-year funding settlements for operating, maintaining and renewing the network.

There are now three key decision points for evaluating enhancements proposals using a pipeline approach: the decision to develop, the decision to design and the decision to deliver (final investment decision). Each decision point is informed by a HMT-compliant business case and assessed for strategic fit, value for money, affordability and deliverability of the proposal. It should be noted that these stages do not directly align with the Governance of Railway Investment Projects (GRIP) stages used by Network Rail, however some of the later stages will be informed by GRIP related activities.

Network Rail will only commit to deliver projects once design work is complete and there are robust delivery and cost estimates to inform good decision-making.