Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department’s (a) process and (b) strategy is for procurement of rolling stock.

The procurement of rolling stock is led by train operating companies. Under the previous franchising process this may have formed part of a successful bid. However, under the new operating contract model, operators still lead on the procurement and specification process, but the final business case is subject to a governance review by the Department and HM Treasury. A number of train operators, including Chiltern, Northern, TransPennine and South Eastern, are currently undertaking procurements for new-build fleets, with a particular emphasis on replacing older fleets.