Lord Moylan

Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and Transport for London, as such the Government has made no assessment of the number of working days lost across the broader London commuter base as a result of industrial action by members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers on the London Underground since 1 April 2026.

The Government has made no assessment of the total direct cost to the United Kingdom economy of industrial action on the London Underground since 1 April 2026 due to London Transport being devolved.

Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and Transport for London, as such the Government has made no assessment of the number of working days lost across the broader London commuter base as a result of industrial action by members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers on the London Underground since 1 April 2026.

The Government has made no assessment of the total direct cost to the United Kingdom economy of industrial action on the London Underground since 1 April 2026 due to London Transport being devolved.

Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and Transport for London. Any impacts of strike action on London’s transport network are for TfL to assess and manage.

In January this year Network Rail reached a pay settlement with its general grades staff at 3.8% along with delivery of efficiency improvements.

These efficiency improvements relate to changes in working practices and modernisation initiatives agreed between Network Rail and the trade unions to support a more sustainable and reliable railway.

The Government supports pay settlements which are fair, affordable and deliver value for taxpayers and farepayers

A yellow front is a safety requirement on many trains, however modern lighting systems mean this is no longer strictly required on newer trains such as the Elizabeth Line fleet. Several operators moving into GBR use the same train model as is used on the Elizabeth Line, and last month I unveiled the first of that model to carry the GBR livery at London Waterloo. When applying the GBR livery to a train type, the decision on whether to retain a yellow front is being taken on a case‑by‑case basis balancing safety considerations, cost and durability, alongside the need for a clear and recognisable design for passengers.

Local highway authorities are responsible for maintaining their roads under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. Individual authorities set their own criteria, including the minimum size and depth at which a defect, or pothole, is recorded or repaired, and apply risk‑based assessments that account for local conditions, traffic volumes and safety considerations when making decisions on maintenance programmes. These thresholds therefore vary between areas and are not prescribed by the Department for Transport.

This approach is based on the Well‑managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice, which advises that local highway authorities should use a risk‑based approach when assessing and repairing defects, and recommends that each authority determine its own intervention criteria based on local circumstances rather than a single national threshold.

The number of rail trespass incidents is presented in the following table:

The above information has been provided by Network Rail. Information is collated by rail periods (as shown) rather than on a monthly basis.

Network Rail estimates the long-term revenue loss due to those incidents. Network Rail does not hold direct cost information (in terms of Delay Repay costs, damage repair, etc) relating to an incident.

Each train operating company currently records this information in a different way – some by days lost and some by percentage absence rate. The figures below have been collated by DFT Operator. Figures cover periods in public ownership only.

Table 1:

Absences by days lost, presented by Rail Period

(Northern, TransPennine Trains, South Western Railway)

Table 2:

Absences by days lost, presented by calendar month

(Southeastern)

Table 3:

Absences by percentage, presented by Rail Period

(LNER, c2c, Greater Anglia, West Midlands Trains)

Chiltern worked with Network Rail, DfT and other operators on the December 2026 timetable and services have been timetabled between Oxford, Winslow, Bletchley and Milton Keynes. The Department continues to work closely with Chiltern Railways and other partners to confirm a start date for the first East-West Rail services between Oxford and Milton Keynes Central via Winslow.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) publishes driving instructor and motorcycle instructor register data online.

The below table shows the number of approved driving instructors (ADI) on the official register in each month since July 2024. Please note, DVSA can currently only publish data up to September 2025.

On 19 May, the Secretary of State for Transport updated Parliament on the progress of the HS2 reset, alongside the publication of her latest parliamentary report.

In addition, the government published the initial findings of HS2 Ltd CEO Mark Wild’s review into the simplification of the railway’s operational specification, and his advice on the estimated cost of cancelling and remediating the programme.

As Mark Wild said before the TSC on 20 May, the HS2 reset will continue to progress and is planned to complete in Spring 2027 when the full delivery baseline is expected to be completed, a new commercial strategy to be implemented, and HS2 Ltd to be reshaped into a leaner, more skilled organisation.

To ensure a smooth transition from today’s access and charging regime to the new access and charging framework under Great British Railways (GBR), Network Rail System Operator (NRSO) were commissioned to develop a draft Access and Use Policy for consultation on behalf of GBR. NRSO has led a highly collaborative and transparent process in the development of this important work. This includes publishing a Discussion Document last December that set out emerging thinking for further engagement and policy development on key areas such as capacity allocation, timetabling, setting of access charges and managing performance alongside frequent engagement with the industry.

A full draft of the Access and Use Policy is expected to be published by NRSO later this year which will give industry an opportunity to formally provide comments and responses before Great British Railways is fully established.

Please see the attached document which contains the information requested.

Staff transferred from the Department for Transport (DfT) to DfT Operator are based in a range of office locations, including Network Rail premises in Waterloo and other locations across the country. NR and DFTO are separate companies with different legal duties. On the journey to GBR they are co-locating and working closely together - for example co-designing GBR with DfT - to ensure that benefits for customers and taxpayers can be delivered as soon as possible.

Thank you for your continued interest in this project; we are still developing the proposition and preparing for the procurement. The procurement process will involve engagement with suppliers which will be commercially sensitive, so sharing costs at this stage would not be appropriate. We will provide updates at the appropriate time.

The Department understands that discussions continue between Chiltern Railways and the relevant trade unions on the operational arrangements for the first phase of East West Rail. Once this has been resolved, and other preparatory works on the trains and infrastructure have been completed, it will be possible to determine an expected start date for the new services.

Clause 3 of the Railway’s Bill sets out the statutory functions of GBR – what we expect it to do, and Clause 18 its general duties – what we expect it to consider when it is delivering on its functions. Taken together, the functions and duties already set out GBR’s fundamental purpose.

Further, the Railways Bill requires the Secretary of State for Transport to issue the Long-Term Rail Strategy (LTRS), which is the first strategy of its kind. It will set out strategic objectives for the railway over a 30-year period.

The Department for Transport's support for the 14 contracted operators and Network Rail was £8.47 per journey in 2024/25. It is currently estimated that this will steadily decrease to circa £7.40 per journey in 2028/29.

Network Rail is responsible for assessing the availability of specialist rail plant used in maintaining the rail network. It is currently reviewing its long-term equipment requirements for track maintenance and renewals, to ensure that it has the capacity, flexibility, and technology it needs to meet future demand efficiently.

The table below shows the total expenditure on the maintenance of the rail network in the past six financial years and its proportion of the total expenditure.

Source: Network Rail’s published Regulatory Financial Statements.

Officials continue to develop the proposition for the Great British Railways app and website. We are engaging with industry on this project and will provide updates in due course.

Great British Railways’ (GBR’s) licence will require it to comply with the code of practice, which will be owned and managed by the Office of Road and Rail (ORR).

To ensure that GBR abides by the rules set out in the code of practice, affected third parties will be able challenge any decisions or actions they consider to be noncompliant, by raising them directly with the ORR. The ORR will be required to investigate and, if it considers that GBR has not complied, it will be able to demand corrective action by issuing binding orders on GBR.

The Government intends to publish the Road Safety Strategy this year.

The Government is committed to a fair and open rail retail market, in which Great British Railways (GBR) will sell tickets alongside, and compete with, independent retailers. Moreover, the retail industry management functions currently performed by the Rail Delivery Group will move to GBR.

To ensure fairness when GBR takes on these functions, the Government has announced a range of safeguards, including an industry code of practice. The code of practice will incorporate clear requirements for how GBR interacts with all market participants and impose separation of decision-making where relevant. It will be owned and managed by the Office of Rail and Road, and GBR’s licence will require compliance with it.

The Secretary of State has not met with the rail trade unions to discuss changes to pay and conditions. These matters are for employers to discuss with their union representatives, regardless of whether publicly or privately owned.

The Department is not a party to the contractual arrangements between Network Rail and Southeastern and cannot therefore comment on publication.

A single leadership team is achieved through contractual arrangements between Network Rail, the train operating company and DfT Operator Limited. The legal arrangements are based on those used in previous alliancing arrangements between Network Rail and train operators. These organisations will still be held to account for their respective accountabilities (including Network Rail under its network licence). Governance mechanisms being put in place include clear job descriptions for the single leadership team detailing the extent of their decision-making abilities and an escalation process for any perceived conflicts.

The Government has received no such representations.

The Department keeps all of its policies under review, to ensure they are aligned to the Government’s priorities and delivering the best possible outcomes for the public.

It is standard practice for any new administration to review the policies of its predecessors.

Where appropriate, we publish details of our reviews on gov.uk. This includes information on the independent reviews, public consultations and taskforces that have been launched, completed and published between 5 July 2024 and 5 January 2025.

All operators are required to meet their contractual obligations as set out in their National Rail Contract, including contractual performance indicators. Failure to comply with those contractual obligations, once Force Majeure claims have been taken into account, leaves operators open to enforcement action.

The Department is currently assessing if XC Trains Limited exceeded the default threshold, for any of the relevant indicators in these periods, once Force Majeure claims have been taken into account.

The current Remedial Agreement with XC Trains Limited that was agreed in August 2024 runs until March 2025. There has been no amendment to the existing Remedial Agreement.

All operators are required to meet their contractual obligations as set out in their National Rail Contract. Failure to comply with those contractual obligations leaves operators open to enforcement action.

It is public knowledge that CrossCountry is both reinstating services on some routes and amending the times of some services from May 2025. The Department has not agreed any alterations to the CrossCountry May 2025 timetable.

The current Remedial Agreement with XC Trains Limited that was agreed in August 2024 runs until March 2025. The Department is considering what further actions might be appropriate, if any.

The Remedial Agreement letter has been published on the .gov website. Redactions have been made using the exemptions permitted under both section 40(2) (personal information) and 43(2) (commercially prejudicial information) of the Freedom of Information Act. A public interest test was conducted as part of the consideration process. The Remedial Agreement runs until March 2025.

The Secretary of State announced on 4 December that, under the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, South Western Railway’s services will transfer into public ownership on 25 May 2025, followed by c2c’s on 20 July 2025 and Greater Anglia’s in autumn 2025.

The way funding has been allocated to local authorities represents a change from previous methodologies to a fairer and simpler system, moving away from a competitive process. This funding for local authorities to deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans has been allocated based on local needs, considering three factors, equally weighted. These are:

• The level of population, the greater the population of the local transport authority the more money they will receive;
• The distance covered by buses in the authority, the greater the tendered bus mileage, the more money they will receive; and
• The index of multiple deprivation, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This is the official measure of relative deprivation in England.

Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL. Thanks to constructive dialogue between TfL and the unions the strikes planned by both RMT and ASLEF for early November have now been called off.