East Coast Railway Line

(asked on 14th March 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the incident at Retford on the East Coast Main Line on Thursday 9 March, and given that only hybrid trains can use the diversionary routes that are available, whether they intend to review the decision to go for a mostly electric fleet for the line as part of the Inter City Express Programme; what financial resources are available in Control Period 5, 2014 to 2019, to improve the reliability of the infrastructure on the line; and what resources they plan to make available in Control Period 6, 2019 to 2024.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 22nd March 2017

There are no plans to review the make-up of the new East Coast fleet. Each electric set also has a small diesel engine so it can get passengers to the next station in the event of de-wirement or power loss.

In Control Period 5, Network Rail plan to spend £3 billion (in 2012-13 prices) on maintaining and renewing the London and North East Route, which includes the East Coast Main Line. The planned spend for Control Period 6 will be finalised later this year.

Reticulating Splines