Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to replace the Class 170 units transferred to Chiltern Railways from the Transpennine Manchester to Cleethorpes service.

The Department for Transport continue to work with industry partners to develop a solution that will see more electric trains going into the North of England, in addition to the 14 already planned. We envisage that these electric trains will release diesel trains to be used on parts of the network in the North of England that are not yet electrified. The exact detail of this is subject to commercial negotiations and I will update the House as soon as these are concluded.