Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increased number of short-form units in use across the Northern Rail franchise in the last month.

Northern had built up its electric train fleet in preparation for delivering the original May 2018 timetable. With delays to the completion of electrification work, Northern is having to use its residual diesel fleet to cover more of its services than was planned. This is happening at a time when trains are also being taken out of service to be refurbished as promised to passengers as part of its franchise agreement.