Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will meet representatives of Great Western Railway to discuss the use of half-length trains.

Ministers meet with train operators regularly to discuss a range of issues including operational performance. I expect to meet with Great Western Railway (GWR) and Network Rail again in the coming months to continue to hold them to account on progress towards sustained good performance.

Train lengths are regularly reviewed and adjustments are made where appropriate. GWR deploys its Intercity fleet of 5, 9 or 10 carriage trains to best meet demand.

Sometimes services are formed of fewer carriages than planned but this is only done as a last resort – this could be because of damage or vandalism, for example following an infrastructure problem, or because of an animal strike or fatality. Trains can also develop faults which means they cannot be used for passenger service until the problem is resolved.