Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what is the percentage seat utilisation per mile on London and North Eastern Railway services to (a) York, (b) Leeds and (c) Newcastle.

LNER services have a high rate of seat utilisation which is comparable to or better than other inter-city long distance franchised operators. However, seat utilisation varies throughout the day as LNER make effective use of track capacity by running longer trains which delivers more capacity during the peaks, which can lead to excess capacity on return legs where demand may be lower. Timetable obligations and fixed train sets means that there is sufficient capacity to meet demand, though is not possible to alter capacity in these quieter times to improve seat utilisation rates on these services.