Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to make a progress report on improvements in rail access to Heathrow Airport.

Network Rail are progressing the design and development of the Western Rail Link to Heathrow and recently concluded a statutory consultation on the proposed alignment of the route. This is a major step for the scheme and is required before Network Rail can submit its planned application to the Planning Inspectorate for the necessary consents in 2019.

In respect of the proposed Southern Access scheme, the Department undertook market testing earlier this year. This is the first step in the development process, and will inform the work required before any decision on whether to progress the scheme is made, and if so, how to progress it.

For both Western and Southern rail access, a summary of responses to the market testing will be published in due course.