Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reason for the failure of the Class 802 trains at Dawlish during a sea storm on 29 September.

Great Western Railway and Hitachi as manufacturer and maintainer of the Class 802 fleet, are working together to understand the reasons behind the loss of traction on two services on the sea wall at Dawlish, and to minimise incidents like this in future.

Bi-directional signalling installed at Dawlish enables trains to operate on the landward track in both directions which can provide some protection for rolling stock from storms.