Railways: Repairs and Maintenance
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 February 2026 to Question 111447 on Railways: Repairs and Maintenance, what the benefit-cost ratio is for each rail infrastructure project under construction on the Network Rail network; and what the most recent benefit-cost ratio assessments are for (i) the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement scheme and (ii) the Horley Junction improvement scheme (iii) dualling of single sections of the Clitheroe to Manchester Victoria line.
Answered by Simon Lightwood
Business case documents and the benefit-cost ratios (BCRs) for major schemes, including relevant schemes in the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline, will be published on gov.uk when the full business case is approved. BCRs are not always published until the final approval.
It should be noted that BCRs are only one element of decision-making on proposed rail infrastructure projects and should be considered within the context of the five-case business model (Strategic, Economic, Financial, Commercial and Management) used in Government.
The Ely Area Capacity Enhancement (EACE) scheme’s Outline Business Case (OBC) had a BCR of 4.89 when the scheme was paused by the previous government in 2022.
The 2019 Outline Business Case for Haughley Junction upgrades indicated a BCR of 0.5.
No BCR assessment has been made of the dualling of single sections of the Clitheroe to Manchester Victoria line at this point.
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