4th Report - Rail infrastructure investment

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government accepts some of the Committee's recommendations, partially accepts others and does not accept others, while setting out its pipeline-based approach to rail enhancements.

• On electrification, the Government "partially accepts" the recommendations to recategorise the cancelled schemes and to deliver a rolling programme. It says there is no "pending" categorisation in the RNEP and that it will "remain agnostic" on how outcomes are best achieved.
• The Government "accepts" the recommendation to engage with third-party proposals, and says any private sector proposals on the Midland Mainline "will be fully considered". It "will work with RIA to produce a report" on electrification costs and will "revert to the Committee on the most appropriate timetable".
• On regional rebalancing, the Government "does not accept" that its appraisal methods deny regions a "fair share". It says making the rebalancing toolkit mandatory "would be impractical", though it "would expect all business cases to have regard to it".
• The Government "accepts" the recommendation on smoothing renewals spending and on transparency of enhancement projects at each pipeline stage. It "does not accept" that there will be a slow down in workflow, or that supplementing the market-led proposals guidance is the appropriate means of identifying projects. It will reassess that guidance at the end of the "call for ideas", and "will respond in the autumn".

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