Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to upgrade train rolling stock on Crosscountry services to (a) address overcrowding and poor accessibility and (b) meet 2050 net zero targets.

The rolling stock requirements for the next CrossCountry contract are yet to be decided. Most of its fleet is around 20 years old, far short of the trains’ life expectancy, and is all fully accessible. The Department will consider value for money proposals offering an increase in capacity and wider passenger benefits.

CrossCountry is working with the rolling stock owners on options to reduce the carbon footprint of the CrossCountry train fleet.