Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made on the electrification of the Great Western main line.

Electrification of the Great Western Mainline between Paddington and Maidenhead has been successfully delivered. This has enabled a peak hours electric service to be introduced between Maidenhead and Paddington on 22nd May this year, with more services introduced on 3 July.

As a result the first Turbo trains have been cascaded to the West of England, which also started operation on 3 July, providing a 35% increase in capacity on the Severn Beach Line and better passenger facilities providing early benefits to Bristol.