Railways

My Lords, I cannot yet announce a prototype for underwater train technology. Perhaps that is something for the future. I am entertained by the noble Lord’s point. We believe that investment in a strategic freight network is important. That is why we have allocated £200 million to the development of the strategic freight network. That will be integrated with and complement the existing network and will benefit both freight and passengers alike. We are very much committed to working with industry and interested parties to facilitate the delivery of the SFN. The noble Lord makes an important point about flooding and rail reliability. As probably do other noble Lords, I remember recent floods in the midlands, with the sight of water flowing between two platforms and trains being prevented from moving along them, for understandable reasons. The White Paper recognises that greater resilience to issues such as climate change will be required. That will need to be factored into future maintenance and renewals. Such factors are certainly being taken into account in the design of the intercity express train, but we have not yet designed a train that travels under water.