Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the journey time from Cleethorpes to Manchester Airport on the service proposed in his Department's consultation document on the Transpennine franchise published in June 2014.

The Department for Transport is currently conducting a joint public consultation with Rail North which will inform the specifications for both the Northern and TransPennine Express franchises. The consultation can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-northern-and-transpennine-express-rail-franchises

and concludes 18th August. No estimates of the possible journey time have yet been completed for any of the options set out in the consultation. Further work will be carried out, informed by the consultation, before any decisions are taken.