Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reliability and punctuality of rail services through the Castlefield corridor operated by Northern and Trans-Pennine Express franchises; and what steps they will take to ensure that the service requirements set by the Department for Transport for trains through the Castlefield corridor are capable of being met given the limits of the infrastructure.
The Department for Transport works closely with Network Rail to ensure that services sought and proposed in franchise competitions fit with the infrastructure capacity.
The capacity on the Castlefield Corridor has been under review as a result of recent performance issues, and work is ongoing to examine the service configuration to best meet passenger demand.