Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the compliance of the decision by Southeastern to curtail the majority of services on the Medway Valley Line at Paddock Wood instead of Tonbridge with Appendix 4 to Schedule 1, Schedule 1.1, Part 2, Paragraphs 11, 11.1 b i and ii of the Southeastern Emergency Measures Agreement with his Department; and if he will make a statement.

As part of COVID related timetable changes, to protect performance across the network during the pandemic and ensure key workers can continue to move across the network, some Medway Valley services now turn at Paddock Wood, to avoid interactions with Main line services and to reduce the need for unplanned skip-stopping on the Main line.

The services that were removed had an average loading of 5 passengers at Tonbridge; the change has resulted in approximately 12 minutes additional travel time for these passengers. However, the current service delivers an overall significant performance improvement for a much larger number of passengers across the network.