Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help tackle overcrowding on the 18:00 South Western Railway service from London Waterloo to (a) Woking and (b) Portsmouth Harbour.

We are aware this service is the eighth busiest in the country. The Department are supporting South Western Railway (SWR) to reduce overcrowding. Once the new Arterio train fleet have been introduced on the SWR suburban network, SWR will have the opportunity to review the timetable to better match capacity to demand and also re-deploy trains onto London Waterloo to Woking/Portsmouth Harbour services.