Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to improve service for passengers on Southern Rail in 2017.

The most immediate improvement we wish to see is the unions calling off their futile strike action and work to rule. The Secretary of State has met with ASLEF, before they decided to strike. I again strongly urge both they and the RMT to get back round the negotiating table with the serious intention of actually resolving this dispute and to put passengers interests first.

We have brought in Chris Gibb to head a new project board, working with the train operator, Network Rail and the Department, to explore how to achieve a rapid improvement to services for the public on Southern and they have identified areas on which to focus. In addition, the Secretary of State recently announced that a further £300 million will be spent by Network Rail from their existing budget specifically to improve the infrastructure on this part of the network, which will consequently improve the service for those passengers.