Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of productivity losses as a result of business travellers being unable to maintain a fast and reliable internet connection on trains.

As part of the Spending Review planning, the Department considered the productivity improvements for all travellers, including business travellers, that will arise from providing faster more reliable internet connectivity on trains. This was undertaken in in accordance with our transport appraisal guidance. And as a result, the Department was successful in securing funding to deploy low earth orbit satellite (LEO) technology for onboard Wi-Fi on mainline trains.

Trials using LEO have proven this technology provides high speeds – up to 200 megabits per second, enabling passengers to receive a much better mobile connection through the on-train Wi-Fi than they receive today.