Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will review the current franchise agreement of Southern Rail in order to improve service quality.

This Franchise Agreement contains provisions for the management and monitoring of the quality of the service being provided by Southern.

The Department’s Franchise Management team continues to maintain close regular contact with Southern. This includes monthly meetings with their senior management where performance figures are scrutinised and challenged. Whilst performance is not at the level passengers expect senior officials are in even more frequent contact with them.

There are a range of enforcement mechanisms available to the Department in the event of non-compliance and we will take action if the level of service provided to passengers makes this necessary.