Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to speed up the rollout of South Western Railway Arterio trains in Surrey following renationalisation.

The new Managing Director, Lawrence Bowman, has been tasked with drawing up a plan to introduce the new Class 701 Arterio fleet. South Western Railway (SWR) has accelerated the Arterio rollout with five additional units introduced since the transfer to public ownership (12 units in total) compared to only one additional unit being introduced in the six months prior to transfer. The Department is working with SWR to ensure the remaining fleet are introduced as soon as possible.