Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress his Department has made on implementing plans for new Intercity Express Programme and Thameslink rolling stock.

Both rolling stock programmes are on schedule with the first trains for each undergoing testing on the network as planned. Thameslink trains will enter passenger service this spring and IEP trains will enter service on the Great Western Main Line from 2017 and the East Coast Main Line from 2018. The investment in infrastructure together with these fleets of modern trains will deliver increased peak time capacity, reliability and improved connections that will transform journeys for passengers on routes in the South East, through London and out to Scotland and Wales.