Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Govia Thameslink Railway trains have been short formed in the last 12 months.

The Department does not specify to GTR how long every train must be and therefore does not hold this information. It is for each operator to use all reasonable endeavours to operate with sufficient capacity to meet passenger requirements. The Department incorporates a Peak Short Formation benchmark within GTR’s financial incentive regime, which measures the capacity delivered when the network is busiest.

We have attached the latest position against the contractual benchmarks in the table below. Whilst Peak Short formations appear to be in excess of default levels, GTR has submitted a force majeure claim for official and unofficial industrial action undertaken by drivers and conductors on Southern services. The outcome of our assessment of their force majeure claim will determine GTR's performance level.