Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 7 March 2016 to Question 29384, for what reasons the announcement of the award of the next East Anglia rail franchise has been delayed; and when he plans to make that announcement.

The successful bidder will help us realise our ambitious plans for East Anglia’s rail network. We have been clear that as a minimum they must provide a modern service with state of the art trains and also introduce at least two 90-minute services each way between London and Norwich. In addition they must invest heavily in improving stations.

We advised an anticipated date for the award and continue to consider the bids. We will announce the new operator in due course.