Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the capacity and the availability of seating for passengers on peak services on High Speed 1 trains between Ebbsfleet and London St Pancras.

No such assessment has been made by the Department but franchisees have an obligation to minimise overcrowding. Therefore it is the Train Operating Company running the service that is responsible for what rolling stock it allocates to which service, both in type and in quantity.