Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total cost to the public purse has been of negotiations with train operating companies for franchised rail passenger services on the West Coast Main Line.

It is estimated that the InterCity West Coast Direct Award project will spend a total of £697,034 on external legal, technical and financial advisers. In addition to the core Department for Transport project team, officials from teams across the Rail Executive and Department have contributed to the project. No assessment has been made for internal Departmental staff costs.