asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will authorise the expenditure of £3 million sought by British Rail for the upgrading of the Perth-Inverness railway line.

The Railways Board has provided an appraisal of various ways of increasing rail capacity to the North-East of Scotland. Its preferred scheme would not satisfy the normal financial criteria applying to investment by nationalised industries and the Government are considering whether special arrangements should be made to enable the scheme to go ahead.