Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what sanctions other than franchise withdrawal his Department has used to hold poorly performing railway operators to account.

The Department takes a stepped approach to managing any failure of a franchised train operator to deliver its franchise obligations, taking account of factors such as the impact on passengers and taxpayers, in line with its published enforcement policy, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/529553/enforcement-policy-rail-franchise-agreements-and-closures.pdf