Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the (a) frequency and (b) capacity of rail services between Birmingham and Leicester.

The scope for increased frequency on the Birmingham to Leicester route beyond the current two trains per hour is limited by current infrastructure. The infrastructure capacity is being considered as part of the proposed Midlands Rail Hub project. In terms of train capacity, CrossCountry has recently declassified First Class accommodation on services from Birmingham to Cardiff, Nottingham and Stansted Airport to provide a number of additional seats on each train for all ticket holders.