Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will set targets for (a) increased use of the railways and (b) the level of increased use of the railways produced by (i) air to rail and (ii) road and car to rail modal shift.

The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, published May 2021, set out the biggest transformation of the railways in three decades with reforms designed to improve services for passengers and freight customers and encourage use of the railways. A new public body, Great British Railways, will run the network in the public interest.

Great British Railways will have a new relationship with passenger train operating companies defined by tough new contracts incentivising punctual and reliable services. As the pandemic is changing travel habits, train operators are reassessing their services to ensure rail timetables meet new passenger travel patterns, are fit for the future, and carefully balance cost, capacity and performance.  We do not currently have any plans to set specific targets for increased passenger use of the railways. The Government has committed to introducing a rail freight growth target which will contribute towards broader Government objectives of modal shift for freight and will reflect the sector's own business growth ambitions.