Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to increase the capacity, and (2) to reduce journey times, of rail services between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour stations.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to revise the timetable and services operated across the SWR network. The current mainline timetable provides 89% of the number of AM peak seats at Waterloo (0700-0959) compared with the timetable pre-COVID. SWR continue to monitor customer numbers closely and have plans in place to increase the level of capacity or service provision further as passenger demand returns. With current levels of demand, there remains spare socially-distanced capacity into Waterloo in the AM peak. Journey times on the Waterloo-Portsmouth service remain broadly unchanged.