Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what investment he plans to make in the east coast main line to (a) improve capacity and (b) enable more frequent services between the North of England and London.

The government published the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (IRP) in November 2021, which outlined plans for the delivery and phasing of major rail investment in the North and Midlands over the coming decades. The IRP confirmed aspirations to upgrade and improve line speeds on the ECML, and the Department will ask Network Rail to take forward interventions on the route to deliver improved journeys to Leeds and the North East.