Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the specifications for the West Coast Partnership rail franchise requires the new operator to be responsible for timetabling across the route of that franchise.

In its Shadow Operator role, the West Coast Partnership operator will, working in conjunction with Network Rail, HS2 Ltd and other Train and Freight Operators, develop advice for the Secretary of State on options for the post HS2 launch Train Service Specification on both HS2 and WCML routes. The West Coast Partnership operator’s role in the timetabling process will be consistent with existing practices across the rail industry both before and after HS2 services are launched.