Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the correspondence between his Department and senior representatives of South Western Railway since the launch of the South Western Railway and Network Rail stakeholder consultation in July 2021.

South Western Railway (SWR), Network Rail (NR) and the Department are currently analysing the feedback from the consultation with the aim of NR and SWR publishing a report together with details on next steps by the end of the calendar year.

I recently spoke about the estimated cost savings as a result of the proposed timetable changes on SWR at an adjournment debate and followed this with a letter which is available in the Libraires of the House.

The Department has already published correspondence between the Department and senior SWR representatives which is available online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/dft-foi-disclosure-log-2021.

The Department has not carried out any assessments into the carbon impact of SWR running a reduced timetable compared to pre-pandemic service levels, and there are no proposed reductions in headcount as a result of the December 2022 timetable proposals.