Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to take steps to shorten the rail journey time between York and Derby.

From May 2023 CrossCountry is planning to reintroduce a number of through services on its Newcastle to Reading route via Doncaster, Derby and Birmingham. These will be in addition to the hourly trains that link York with Derby and Plymouth via Leeds. Travelling from York to Derby on the CrossCountry route via Doncaster would typically be about 20 minutes quicker than the route via Leeds. It will be for CrossCountry, working with the industry to develop robust and reliable future timetables offering attractive journey times based on an appropriate business case.