To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make it her policy to support improvements in the Felixstowe to Nuneaton railway line before the final deadline for proposals for Trans-European Transport Network funding on 20 July. (148775)

The development of this scheme overall is not at present sufficiently mature for submission to the EC for TEN-T funds. However, the contribution which Hutchison Ports UK has agreed to make to the Felixstowe-Peterborough element increases the prospects of other elements of the improvements in question being funded from other sources in due course.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions her Department has had with interested parties on proposals to improve the Felixstowe to Nuneaton railway line. (148776)

Discussions are continuing with interested parties on proposals for improvements west of Peterborough. Separately, an application has been made to the Secretary of State for an Order under the Transport and Works Act to authorise improvements to the Ipswich-Felixstowe branch line, and Hutchison Ports has agreed to fund these works (if approved) as well as gauge clearance as far as Peterborough.