Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's policy is on maintaining an intercity standard train service between (a) Norwich and London, (b) Ipswich and London, (c) Colchester and London and (d) Chelmsford and London.

In our invitation to tender for the East Anglia franchise we have asked bidders to:

• As a minimum meet the train services we have specified in the invitation to tender and to develop train services that are attractive to passengers within each of the different Market Segments served by the Franchise which includes the Intercity Services that offer long distance rail services between London and Norwich operating on the Great Eastern Mainline and calling at the stations you mention. This includes train services between Norwich and London that have a journey time of 90 minutes or less each weekday and between Ipswich and London that have a journey time of less than 60 minutes.

• Furthermore they have been asked to implement a rolling stock fleet solution that delivers the train services to consistently high standards of rolling stock availability, reliability and presentation through effective management, maintenance and improvement of rolling stock assets. As a minimum this includes ensuring that all rolling stock that forms part of the Train Fleet is compatible with the infrastructure throughout the Core Franchise Term and any Extension and has an internal lay out and facilities appropriate for the Market Segments served.

I look forward to saying more in the coming weeks.