Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the existing contractual obligations to share ticket revenue with other train operating companies through the Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services system in the current franchise agreement between his Department and Govia for passenger rail services on the London Midland line.

The Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services (ORCATS) is owned by Rail Settlement Plan Ltd, a company administered by the Association of Train Operating Companies and wholly-owned by the Train Operating Companies collectively. It is one of the means of allocating revenue. Under the Ticketing Settlement Agreement, ORCATS is the default allocation method used in respect of any ticket type and flow. However, it is not mandatory, and Train Operating Companies are free to agree a non-ORCATS allocation in respect of particular ticket types and/or flows if they think that the ORCATS model will not produce a fair estimate of true passenger behaviour.