Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve journey times, reliability and connectivity on cross-country rail routes between major regional centres.

Rail services that cross the country and connect major regional centres are provided by a number of operators which are being progressively brought into public ownership. With Great British Railways ending years of fragmentation, there will be greater opportunities to collaborate between operators, and between track and train, to improve journey times, reliability and connectivity to the benefit of passengers.