Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to implement capital improvements to (a) Portsmouth Harbour Station and (b) other railway stations in Portsmouth.

The South Western Franchise awarded to First MTR South Western Trains Limited (SWR) commenced operation in August of last year. As part of the £1.2bn of investment being made to Passenger Services through this contract, the Franchise Agreement contains several general obligations in terms of capital investment at stations across the network served SWR, including free-to use WiFi, refurbishment of waiting rooms, replacement of life-expired CCTV and improvements to Customer information Screen equipment, for example. However, the Franchise Agreement does not specify the capital investment in station improvements that must be made at a) Portsmouth Harbour station or b) other Railway stations in Portsmouth; it is for SWR to determine which improvements to make at each station within the scope of each relevant Franchise obligation having assessed which stations have the greatest need and where the investment will achieve the maximum impact for passengers.