Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the capability of (a) Thameslink, (b) Southern and (c) Great Northern effectively to roll out new (i) rolling stock, (ii) timetables and (iii) traffic management systems.

The Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise was developed to facilitate the delivery of the significant investment programme on this part of the network, including the £7bn Thameslink Programme.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the current franchisee has successfully delivered new rolling stock fleets and timetables since the start of its franchise. GTR continues to deliver the transformational changes to passengers necessary for the Thameslink Programme including new rolling stock and timetables and it is working with Network Rail to implement new technologies, including traffic management systems.