Railways: East Coast Main Line

Lord Berkeley Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

We have had many robust debates through the passage of different legislation in this House and I look forward to continuing to do so. Yes, in answer to the first question, we very much do intend to be here to see through the development of the legislation. Of course, it is going through the other place at the moment, and I look forward to the debates that we will have when it comes to our side.

[Lord Berkeley (Lab)]

My Lords, would my noble friend the Minister agree that the welcome growth in passenger numbers on the east coast main line was mainly due to the introduction of Lumo, an open-access competitor?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

It is very interesting that the east coast main line has three open-access operators. There are lessons to be learned from the experience that we have had. Clearly, they have brought an incredible amount. Some 20% of services on the east coast main line have open-access operators. We need to look and learn, and see what we can gain from it.