Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has allocated for Network Rail to produce a feasibility study on the Brighton Mainline Upgrade; and whether he plans for that funding to continue up to 2020.

Claire Perry

Network Rail has authorised £8m from its current financial settlement to develop proposals for the upgrade of the Brighton Main Line. The Government will subsequently consider what, if any, additional funding is required, based on its emerging priorities for improvements to the national network.

This feasibility study is additional to the improvements that will already be delivered in the years up to 2020 by the massive Thameslink programme which will provide substantial additional capacity and improved frequencies together with 1,140 new carriages serving destinations including Brighton.