I also recognise that growth in the region and the associated number of new houses will place additional pressures on the West Anglia Main Line between Liverpool Street station and Cambridge.

Therefore, to complement the Highways Agency's further work on the M11, I am also asking Network Rail to develop and bring forward proposals for enhancing the West Anglia Main Line.  This work should examine the case for further enhancements, to provide for longer term capacity and service improvements, in the context of Network Rail's recent Greater Anglia Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS).

Following recent feasibility work led by my Department, I confirm that this assessment should incorporate consideration of line and route improvements including a potential four-tracking option from Tottenham Hale to south of Cheshunt, and an assessment of what commitments would be needed to deliver this solution.

The anticipated timescales for this assessment are for necessary development work and powers to be completed within railway Control Period 4 (2009-14), with a view to targeting delivery in Control Period 5 (2014-19).

This would be in addition to the more immediate capacity enhancements I announced in my White Paper Delivering a Sustainable Railway, and High Level Output Specification (HLOS), which were published last year.