Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effects of there being only one railway line between Salisbury and Yeovil on (1) the travelling public and (2) the carriage of goods.

We are aware of the issues between Salisbury and Yeovil and the lack of resilience due to the nature of this single line. Department officials continue to work with the South Western Railway and Network Rail in providing as much resilience as possible, including by increasing the Operator management resource tasked specifically to look at West of England line issues.

The Government recognises that the economic and environmental potential of rail freight is significant and is fully committed to supporting its growth. Under our plans to deliver the biggest overhaul of the railways in a generation, Great British Railways will have a duty and targets to grow the use of rail freight. Currently freight only operates between Salisbury and Worting Junction (Basingstoke).

There is no freight operation between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction. Network Rail is working with stakeholders and industry partners to understand the capacity and performance issues on the West of England Line and identify how these can be mitigated.