Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to Answer of 16 May 2019 to Question 254217 on Great Western Railway Line: Catering, what assessment his Department made of the potential merits of offering catering option H, a trolley service, on Great Western Railway Intercity Express trains.

The Department, in partnership with Great Western Railways (GWR), studied the costs and seating change options, provided by Hitachi Rail, for a buffet on the Intercity Express trains. It concluded, backed by GWR customer research, that the trolley service strikes the balance between ensuring catering is available whilst also maximizing the benefits of the full extra capacity that IETs provide.