The White Paper, 'Delivering a sustainable railway' (Cm. 7176, ISBN 9780101717625) published on July 2007 and set the Government's general vision for the railways for the next thirty years. Network Rail's engineering overruns at New Year 2008 caused tremendous inconvenience to passengers across the country and inevitably shaped the Committee's oral evidence sessions. The Committee's investigation, along with analyses from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) have led them to believe that the engineering overruns are symptonatic of crucial system flaws which have to be resolved if there is to be any hope of getting a sustainable railway, as promised in the White Paper. This report covers both subjects