Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with Network Rail over plans to increase the maximum line speed on the East Coast Main Line to 140mph and the impact of such an increase on the business case for HS2 to Leeds and beyond.

Network Rail has been asked to start to consider options for increasing line speeds on certain sections of the East Coast Main Line from the current maximum of 125mph to 140mph. This increased line speed could be utilised by the new Intercity Express trains, which are designed to operate at this higher speed, and depending upon the length of the sections involved could result in reductions to advertised journey times to key destinations.

No analysis can be undertaken on the impact of this proposal upon other projects until the outcome of the initial work is known.