Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with Great Western Railway on the potential impact of cancellations to night riviera services during engineering works on passenger revenues.

Department officials have regular conversations with Great Western Railway about passenger revenues. In this case, to lessen the impact on passenger revenues, Network Rail has agreed to do this work in a series of eight-hour possessions over four-nights a week instead of closing the railway for longer periods through a complete blockade. This reduces the impact of the engineering works on passenger revenues, but unfortunately will impact on the operation of the night riviera services and associated revenues. Resignalling in Devon and Cornwall will improve reliability and offer options for improved timetables in the future.