11
Accepted in Part
As recommended by our predecessor Committee in 2018, the best way to deliver efficient and...
Recommendation
As recommended by our predecessor Committee in 2018, the best way to deliver efficient and cost-effective electrification is to establish a rolling programme of electrification over the next 30 years. A rolling programme of electrification should also support the delivery of the Government’s “green industrial revolution” and “levelling up” economic disparities between the regions. The task of decarbonisation belongs to successive governments, but this administration must take the first steps towards meeting the 2050 “net zero” target.
Government Response Summary
The government partially agrees, committing to endeavour to deliver a 30-year pipeline of electrification schemes but will ensure proper development through the RNEP process before committing to individual projects, balancing certainty for the industry with affordability and value for money.
Paragraph Reference
58
Government Response
Accepted in Part
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
The Government partially agrees with this recommendation. We agree that a visible pipeline and smooth delivery profile of electrification schemes will help to enable Network Rail (and subsequently Great British Railways) and the supply chain to deliver electrification more efficiently, and so we will endeavour to deliver that pipeline of schemes over the next 30 years. However, having learned the lessons from Network Rail’s Control Period 5 where we overcommitted to a number of electrification schemes before they had been sufficiently developed, we now have the RNEP process in place to ensure that future schemes can be properly developed before we commit to them. It is right that we both continue to develop schemes through the RNEP process, to ensure that future schemes are affordable and provide value for money, but also that we balance this with the need to give the rail industry the sufficient pipeline of projects, and the certainty, that it needs. We will seek to balance both of these needs in our future approach towards decarbonising the railway between now and 2050.
Source
Committee
Transport Committee
Inquiry
Trains fit for the future?
Report
Sixth Report - Trains fit for the future?
23 Mar 2021
HC 876
Addressee Bodies
Department for Transport
Timeline
Recommendation age
5.4 yrs
Report published
23 Mar 2021