Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the proposed timescales are for the completion of the business case work for the electrification of the Southport to Salford Crescent and Kirkby to Salford Crescent railway lines set out in the March 2015 report of the North of England Electrification Task Force.
Andrew Jones
The report of the independent North of England Electrification Task Force made recommendations on the prioritisation for a rolling programme of electrification of all currently unelectrified lines in the North, in three tiers. It recommended that full business case analysis of all Tier 1 schemes should be urgently progressed. Both Southport-Salford Crescent and Kirby-Salford Crescent were placed in Tier 1.
The Task Force’s recommendations are being taken into account by Network Rail as it prepares an updated national electrification strategy based on a comprehensive sifting and appraisal process. The strategy will be subject to public consultation this year and will inform the Government’s Rail Investment Strategy for 2019-2024.
