Context
Network Rail has identified that capacity through East Croydon will be exhausted by 2030, preventing passengers from across much of southern England from being able to travel to London. Gatwick airport's capacity is set to almost double in addition to the 2030 figure, contingent on 54% of passengers travelling by public transport.
Question
Network Rail has identified that if the Croydon area remodelling scheme is not undertaken, capacity through East Croydon will be exhausted by 2030, preventing passengers from across much of southern England from being able to travel to London. Given that the Department for Transport has outlined that it is minded to approve Gatwick airport’s capacity increase, almost doubling the overall numbers, so long as 54% of passengers travel by public transport—that is in addition to the 2030 figure—will the Minister outline how it is possible to achieve that without the works being undertaken?
Answer from The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Lilian Greenwood)
I appreciate the work that my hon. Friend is doing to stand up for his constituents, who rely so much on rail services. As he acknowledges, plans for a major upgrade to the Brighton main line were cancelled by the previous Government in the 2021 spending review, and they did not even acknowledge that that had happened. Network Rail is funded to progress automatic route-setting signalling technology to further enhance performance across the Brighton main line. Further decisions will be made after the spending review.
Not addressed: The Minister acknowledged previous cancellations but did not provide a specific plan or timeline for addressing the current capacity issues.
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