Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of planned East Coast Main Line timetable change in December 2025 on local rail services in (a) County Durham and (b) the North East.

An assessment suggested Chester-le-Street calls on Trans Pennine Express be increased to hourly services, which have now been implemented. As well as the LNER London to Newcastle trains be increased from two trains per hour to three trains per hour, now scheduled to start from December 2025.

Darlington should retain its two trains per hour to London by LNER and Durham should retain its one train per hour to London by LNER, both of which have been confirmed.

Other benefits to the North-east identified for introduction include more local trains north of Newcastle.

Network Rail is modelling the timetable to enable industry to focus on actions to ensure the timetable can be delivered reliably.