Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the quality of local trains in Northern Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire.

As part of the competition for the next East Midlands rail franchise we have recently consulted passengers and stakeholders about their priorities for improvements to local rail services. We are currently considering their responses. These will inform what we ask bidders to deliver for the next franchise when we issue Invitations to Tender in April 2018.

The Northern and TransPennine Express franchises will deliver more than 500 new carriages, room for 40,000 extra passengers and more than 2,000 extra services a week. By 2020 all the trains will be brand new or completely refurbished, and all the Pacer trains will be gone.

The new intercity express trains will be introduced to the East Coast mainline from late 2018, replacing the InterCity 125 and 225 fleets.