Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the impact of overcrowding on the Durham Coast Line during peak periods on the health and safety of passengers.

Rail North Partnership (RNP), through which the department jointly manages Northern Trains’ contract with Transport for the North, monitors operators’ planned train deployment to ensure this falls within the requirement on them to match capacity to demand. While we have no evidence passengers’ safety is being compromised, RNP will discuss the loading on Durham Coast services with Northern and ensure it takes the actions open to it to meet its targets