Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications for open access train services on the East Coast Main Line are before his Department.

There are no applications for open access services before the Department. The decision on all access applications is solely the responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation as the independent regulator. The Department responds to consultations on access applications as appropriate.

There are currently two open access applications before the ORR for open access applications on the East Coast Mainline. The ORR’s decisions on current and historical track access applications can be found on their website (http://orr.gov.uk/consultations/access-consultations/track-access-decisions) alongside current applications being considered (http://orr.gov.uk/consultations/access-consultations/current-track-access-applications).