Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether South Western Railway, Greater Anglia or c2c will run Boxing Day services this year, following the nationalisation of those companies.

Greater Anglia plans to run Stansted Express services on Boxing Day this year. Services are expected to operate every 30 minutes and due to engineering work these services will start and terminate from Tottenham Hale.

South Western Railway and c2c are not running Boxing Day services this year.

The Department requires its operators to plan services and rail timetables that are designed to meet expected passenger demand. These should be resilient and provide value for money for the taxpayer.

Typically, demand for services on Boxing Day is low and much of the network is closed to provide opportunity for essential maintenance. We expect operators and in future, Great British Railways, to continue to consider the case for Boxing Day services where there is demand and they do not further increase the burden on taxpayers.