Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made on the delivery and rollout of the Class 701 train on the South Western Railway network.

Since the sale of Bombardier to Alstom, the Alstom team has been reviewing the production programme of the 701s in discussion with South Western Railway (SWR). This will establish when the first 701s will enter passenger service on SWR suburban lines, and at what rate the full fleet will be delivered. The new depot at Feltham is now operational in readiness for the arrival of the fleet.

Six class 707 units have been cascaded to Southeastern; the remaining are planned to be cascaded in line with the sub-lease dates (July to October 2021), while the Class 455 and 456 units are all still on lease to SWR.