Select committee: Transport Committee
Recommendation 23
7th Report - Rail investment pipelines: ending boom and bust
Published 10 Feb 2026
Addressed to Department for Transport
Transport Committee Rail investment pipelines: ending boom and bust All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
In order to achieve this: • the Strategy should set out firm objectives on matters of long- term infrastructure policy including electrification, rolling stock, accessibility and capacity; • the Strategy should be the means for setting out commitments to the largest infrastructure programmes on the railway—those at the level of HS2 or Northern Powerhouse Rail which take more than a decade— with a clear articulation of how these programmes will achieve the Government’s strategic objectives; • the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline must be informed by the Long Term Rail Strategy, with schemes at all stages of development clearly matched to its strategic objectives; • the new rolling stock strategy must also be transparently and closely aligned to the strategic objectives set out in the LTRS; and 53 • the Strategy should set out how and by what criteria proposed infrastructure projects and enhancements will be assessed, including their potential to deliver the Government’s strategic aims for the railway. (Recommendation, Paragraph 111)
From: Transport Committee, 7th Report - Rail investment pipelines: ending boom and bust (HC 575), 10 February 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 May 2026 (deadline 10 April 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government shares the Committee's ambition to reduce unnecessary volatility in rail investment, but does not accept that rail funding has been characterised by systemic "boom and bust" and partially agrees with or departs from several recommendations.
- On the independent review of Control Period 7, the Government partially agrees: it agrees the experience should be examined, but does not agree this "requires commissioning and publishing an independent review" before GBR is established, saying the work can use existing assurance and regulatory processes.
- On rolling stock, the Government agrees on the need for an aligned strategy and says the forthcoming Rolling Stock and Infrastructure Strategy, rather than the Long Term Rail Strategy, will set out a vision for simplifying the national fleet over time.
- On pipeline publication, the Government does not consider annual re-publication of a static RNEP document to be the most effective mechanism, and instead points to the National Infrastructure Pipeline, the Enhancements Delivery Plan and milestone announcements. It intends to establish a "potential pipeline" that will not be a funding commitment.
- On the Long Term Rail Strategy, the Government agrees on a statutory 30-year strategy and commits to publishing a discussion document alongside Bill passage through the House of Lords, and to laying a Written Ministerial Statement and a copy of the strategy in the library of both Houses.