Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline still not published

The Railway Industry Association has called on the Department for Transport to publish an updated list of enhancement projects “as a matter of priority”.

Newly appointed Transport Minister Kevin Foster has said that work on the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) is still “ongoing”.

Rail enhancements are projects which deliver new infrastructure such as track or electrification, rather than replacement or renewal of existing infrastructure.

The RNEP is a list of nearly 60 schemes that Network Rail expected to deliver during the period from April 2019 to March 2024. The combined value of the projects was £9 billion, a reduction of £1bn from the original list.

It is three years since the pipeline was published, in October 2019. The DfT promised to update it annually, but has not done so.

In response to a written Parliamentary question, Foster said: “It is important we are able to provide as much clarity and certainty as possible rather than potentially publish a misleading version. The RNEP update will be published in due course.”

The minister stressed it was important that “the rail projects we take forward reflect demand while remaining affordable.”

RIA, which represents the supply chain, has frequently complained to the Government about the lack of clarity, given the long-term nature of railway infrastructure projects. It has been unhappy at a lack of communication, and points out that this pushes up prices.

In June, former ministers Grant Shapps, Wendy Morton and Andrew Stephenson each separately stated that the pipeline would be published “soon” or “shortly”. Baroness Vere of Norbiton, one of two junior transport ministers to be reappointed under new Prime Minister Liz Truss, also said in July that “the RNEP document will be published shortly”.