Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effects of the May 2018 timetable changes on rail services (a) on the Brighton line, (b) at Haywards Heath Station and (c) at East Grinstead Station.

The service provided on Thameslink services since the start of the new timetable has been unacceptable. It is the Department’s number one priority to restore reliability on these routes. This includes the routes mentioned, from the Brighton main line and East Grinstead to London Bridge and Blackfriars.

Once the timetable has stabilised, passengers from Mid Sussex will begin to see the benefits brought by this change. This includes new direct peak-time services from East Grinstead through the Thameslink Core and additional capacity from Haywards Heath into London Victoria and the Thameslink Core.