Written question asked by Mike Hancock (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 6 November 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 19 November 2003. It was answered by Tony McNulty (Labour) on Wednesday, 19 November 2003 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Dept for Transport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the expected (a) cost and (b) completion date were of the renewal of the west coast main line when the contract was let; and what his lastest estimates of (a) and (b) are. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the expected (a) cost and (b) completion date were of the renewal of the west coast main line when the contract was let; and what his latest estimates of (a) and (b) are. [137939] Mr. McNulty: The West Coast Route Modernisation project was originally developed by Railtrack in the late 1990s, which claimed that it would be completed by 2005 at a cost of around £2.2 billion. A number of contracts were let with project managers and suppliers for its delivery. However, under Railtrack's management the projected costs eventually escalated to over £13 billion, and it became clear the committed outputs were undeliverable. The Strategic Rail Authority and Network Rail have now established a robust framework for delivering the project, based on the SRA's June 2003 `West Coast Main Line Strategy', which indicated that the costs would be kept within a cap of £9.9 billion. Further work is under way to explore the scope for reducing the costs further. The outputs are currently on course to be delivered by 2007-08.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 137939; 413 c931W
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Contracts Costs Construction Railway network Modernisation West Coast main line
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk