Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department suspends financial penalties for train delays and cancellations in the event of a health and safety incident.

The Franchise Agreement specifies that certain situations, which can include health and safety incidents, can be exempted from financial penalties, although this is not automatic. If a relevant authority (such as the ORR) issues a safety restriction for a specific period of time, a temporary revised performance plan may be agreed and put in place. In all cases, Franchisees are expected to implement mitigations to minimise the incident’s impact on passengers.