Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to help tackle congestion on the West Coast Main Line.

HS2 Phase 1 will be delivered between Euston and the West Midlands with a branch to Handsacre, near Lichfield, providing a significant increase in capacity across the busiest section of the West Coast Main Line. In addition, work is underway to consider potential upgrades to Handsacre junction and the broader West Coast Main Line to support the introduction of HS2 services, and improve journeys between London, the West Midlands, the North-West, Scotland and other locations. An upgrade of Handsacre Junction will allow more trains to reach key destinations north of Birmingham. It will have a transformative effect on rail capacity: nearly doubling capacity up to 250,000 seats per day across the primary long-distance operator on the West Coast Main Line and Phase 1 - triple that of the operator’s current estimated average daily demand.