Railways and Roads: Finance

(asked on 10th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the funding allocation in the 2020 Spending Review for (1) enhancements and (2) new works, in the next five years for (a) Network Rail, (b) HS2, and c) Highways England; and for each (i) when such enhancements or works are planned to be complete for the use of the public, and (ii) how such enhancements or works contribute to the net-zero carbon emissions target.


Answered by
Baroness Vere of Norbiton Portrait
Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 18th December 2020

The Department for Transport received a significant multi-year settlement as a result of last month’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR 20), including funding for our major rail and road programmes, underlining this Government’s commitment to long term investment in infrastructure.

The responses to points (1) and (2), are summarised in the table below. For reasons of clarity (as there is potential overlap between 'enhancements' and 'new works'), we have defined “enhancements” as works to increase the capacity of the transport network, and “renewals” as works which replace existing infrastructure with modern equivalent.

Network Rail

High Speed Rail (HS) 2

Highways England (RIS2)

Enhancements

£17.5bn (in respect of both Enhancements and Renewals)

£22.6bn

£13bn

Renewals

N/A (this programme is identified as an enhancement)

£5bn

With regards to completion dates, taken together these programmes represent a wide range of individual projects and milestones.

In respect of HS2 Phase One, the Delivery into Service (DIS) range for initial services from Old Oak Common to Birmingham Curzon Street remains 2029 to 2033. The range for initial opening of services from Euston remains 2031-2036, subject to further work on the study of design and delivery options.

Network Rail’s operations, maintenance and renewals budgets have not been changed as a result of Spending Review 2020 and workbanks will continue to be based on the five-year regulatory funding settlement for 2019-2024. The Spending Review confirmed that the Government will continue to support the railway, investing in ambitious improvements to modernise the rail network. In terms of impacts on individual schemes, it remains the case that no schemes have been cancelled nor formal investment decisions taken as a result of the Spending Review. We are currently working with Network Rail and Ministers to agree a new baseline for the portfolio that fits with the new funding envelope. Furthermore, schemes will be regularly published as part of the enhancement delivery plan by Network Rail.

Highways England published its Delivery Plan for RIS2 in August, setting out the planned “start of works” and “open for traffic” dates for each enhancement scheme. The Delivery Plan is available on the Highways England website.

The Government is committed to building a transport network that is greener and fit for the future and we continue to look at ways to decarbonise our network in a way that makes best use of taxpayers’ funding.

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