Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of introducing Driver-Only Operation on delays and train dispatch times on the Northern Rail and TransPennine Express franchises.

The Department is considering the option of specifying that, where appropriate, drivers take on the job of opening and closing the train doors on the Northern Rail and Transpenine Express franchises, as happens on many other parts of the railway, but no decision has yet been taken. This would have the potential to reduce delays by shortening dwell time at platforms and mitigate the risk of delay or cancellation due to conductor unavailability.