Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with First Great Western and the manufacturers of Intercity Express Programme trains regarding plans for driver-only operated trains.
The Department for Transport confirmed earlier in the year that we would enter into negotiations with First Great Western for a second, directly awarded contract, for the three and a half year period from September 2015, when the current one expires, plus an optional extension of up to 13 periods. These negotiations are currently live and commercially confidential, and we expect to be able to announce the results by spring. The required capability of trains is set out in the Train Technical Specification at paragraph 3.5. How this capability is to be used will a matter for the franchisee.