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Written question asked by Richard Holden (Conservative) on Monday, 29 June 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 2 July 2026 (named day). A holding answer was provided on Thursday, 2 July 2026. A substantive answer was provided by Simon Lightwood (Labour) on Monday, 6 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Transport: Infrastructure

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish a list of road and rail infrastructure projects sponsored by her Department for which (i) strategic outline, (ii) outline full and (iii) full business cases have been completed, including (a) current status, (b) most recent benefit-cost ratio, (c) the date on which that benefit-cost ratio was calculated and (d) whether the project is (A) proceeding, (B) paused, (C) under review, (D) cancelled and (E) awaiting a funding decision.

Answer

The department is responsible for a large number of road and rail projects. The most recent project lists have been published by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) in the March 2026 Infrastructure Pipeline. This includes all road and rail projects with a whole life cost above £25m and provides a description of the project and its location.

NISTA also publishes an Annual Report, which provides more detailed information for a smaller subset of projects. The latest version, published in July 2025, covered five road schemes and ten rail schemes. Compared to the Infrastructure Pipeline, the dataset is more granular, including information on cost, schedule and expected benefits, alongside narrative commentary on current status, including delivery confidence assessments. A new iteration of this dataset is expected to be published shortly.

In addition to this pipeline, Network Rail continues to regularly update and publish its Enhancements Delivery Plan each quarter, providing visibility on rail schemes already in delivery.

“Road Investment Strategy 3 2026-2031" (RIS3), concerning the Strategic Road Network, was published in March 2026.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
13933
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Cost benefit analysis Infrastructure Railways Roads
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk