Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Whole Industry Strategic Plan call for evidence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on (a) passenger growth and (b) the UK’s decarbonisation targets of priorities in the plan on opportunities for efficiencies, cost reduction and prioritisation.

We have issued a public call for evidence on the Whole Industry Strategic Plan for rail to give anyone the opportunity to inform our development of a thirty-year strategy for the railway, including the potential trade-offs involved in meeting the long-term strategic objectives we have set. As the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail makes clear, customer experience and environmental sustainability are central to our vision for the future of the railway, and this is reflected in the strategic objectives.