Railways: Chichester
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the resilience of railway infrastructure in extreme weather in Chichester constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood
The Department for Transport has plans in place and underway with industry to adapt to, and mitigate, the risks of extreme weather caused by climate change. Network Rail, as the infrastructure manager of Britain’s railways, has the main responsibility for maintaining the integrity and safety of the rail network to ensure passenger and freight services can operate reliably.
Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2029, Network Rail will invest £2.6 billion in activities and technology that will help it better cope with extreme weather and climate change. Network Rail published its regional weather resilience and climate change adaptation (WRCCA) plans for 2024-2029 in April 2024. These explain how weather and climate change can affect its infrastructure at a more targeted, local level.
Information on these publications, including Southern's (which covers Chichester) can be found here: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/sustainability/climate-change/climate-change-adaptation/.
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