Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to fund (a) rail infrastructure and (b) fleet modernisation projects at (i) East Midlands Railway and (ii) West Midlands Trains (A) during and (B) following their potential transition to public ownership.

The process of transitioning railway passenger services into public ownership should not impact investment projects. Existing projects can continue unless there is a good reason for review; with new projects being considered on their merits. The Department will work closely with private sector train operating companies and Network Rail during the transition process to understand the position of any investment programmes, and build these into transition planning if appropriate.

Railway passenger services currently operated by private sector companies under contract to the Secretary of State will transfer into DfT OLR Holdings Ltd (DOHL) when current contracts end, reach their contractual break point, or if they fail. DOHL is tasked with undertaking transfers efficiently and effectively, with no disruption to passengers and employees. It has managed four successful transfers in recent years and is scaling up to ensure the successful transfer of more services into public ownership.