According to the latest report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, “the Department for Transport lacks a clear strategic plan for the rail network”. The report suggests that the DfT “must learn from previous mistakes” and improve value for money on the delivery of major projects such as high-speed rail.

The committee said there was “a risk” that industry did not have the capacity to deliver all the current and proposed rail programmes. “One of the challenges in delivering multiple programmes is whether there are the skills and capacity to do so, both within government and industry.”

The committee said that the DfT should work with industry and other Government departments responsible for major infrastructure programmes to “understand gaps in industry capacity and to put in place plans to manage such gaps”, in order to ensure that all programmes can be delivered on schedule and within budget.