Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on performance of the number of new trains planned to be introduced across the rail network between 2019 and 2021.

New rolling stock will transform the passenger experience across the country. For example, on Northern and Transpennine Express, by 2020 all the trains will be brand new or completely refurbished, and all the Pacer trains will be gone. The East Anglia franchise will deliver over 1,000 new carriages, the West Midlands franchise will see over 400 new carriages, and South Western railways will deliver 750 new carriages. In their planning, operators consider the impact of new rolling stock and the growth in reliability as trains are first introduced. Work is underway in the industry to learn and share lessons on the introduction of new rolling stock.