Houses of Parliament

Why do major rail projects go over budget?

Experts from the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) will be questioned by the Transport Committee on their work advising the Government on planning major transport projects this week. 

The cross-party Committee will ask witnesses, including NIC Chair Sir John Armitt, why infrastructure projects such as HS2 go over budget, how the Department for Transport can manage them more successfully, and the Government’s ability to learn from mistakes or from positive examples in other countries. 

The session comes after years of changes to the number of projects commissioned by Network Rail, National Highways, and DfT, in response to delays, cost pressures and changes in political leadership. 

MPs may ask how the NIC assesses what transport infrastructure the country will need in the future, and how the Government should strategise more effectively to deliver projects that enable economic growth, better connectivity between regions and reduced carbon emissions. 

The Committee will be interested to hear how the planning regime can be simplified and improved in a way that reduces costs and delays, promotes development and encourages investment. There may be questions about what can be learnt from other countries, such as Germany’s use of ‘programmatic pipelines’ for rail electrification schemes. 

The NIC is an executive agency of the Treasury tasked with carrying out in-depth studies into the UK’s major infrastructure needs and makes recommendations to the Government. This includes a National Infrastructure Assessment every Parliament, setting out the Commission’s assessment of long-term infrastructure needs, with recommendations to government. It also publishes an annual monitoring report to take stock of government's progress in areas where it has committed to taking forward the NIC's recommendations. 

The session is due to take place on Wednesday morning in the House of Commons

Image credit: iStock

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