Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment the Department has made of the potential impact of (a) rostering and (b) minimum service agreements on the number of (i) lightly used and (ii) empty trains operating on the network.

The Department requires train operators to provide services across a wide range of markets to support access to transport and connectivity to jobs and services. This means that some trains do operate with low passenger numbers and operational reasons mean it is not practical to match demand to capacity on every service. We expect operators to provide their services in a way that best balances passenger needs, performance and value for money for taxpayers.