Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help improve rail (a) reliability and (b) performance to ensure people are able to access (i) work and (ii) educational opportunities.

We are starting to see train performance stabilise, following a decade of decline. We are working with the rail industry on a Performance Restoration Framework, with five clear areas of focus to recover performance to acceptable levels, including timetable resilience, staffing and keeping trains safely moving during disruptive events.

The Rail Minister is meeting with the Managing Directors of all train operators and their Network Rail counterparts, to address poor performance and demand immediate action to raise standards.