Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of digital signalling systems on levels of train capacity on the rail network.

Our railway carries twice as many passengers as it did just two decades ago and demand is still set to rise in the years ahead. Digital Railway is part of the industry’s plan to modernise the UK railways through targeted use of digital technologies to deliver improvements in performance and capacity. For example, digital technologies are being deployed – along with other upgrades – as part of the Thameslink Programme, to enable a metro-style service of 24 Thameslink trains per hour through the core section in central London. However, there can be no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to the deployment of the Digital Railway and we are continuing to explore with Network Rail where there is the strongest need for digital interventions across the rail network and where digital schemes can deliver most passenger benefits and offer best value for money.