Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 8 July (HL1360), what assessment they have made of additional capacity that will be produced by the East Coast Digital Programme.

The introduction of digital signalling, as part of the East Coast Digital Programme, will increase rail system capability. This can either be used to increase performance or capacity. The priority for the East Coast Digital Programme, and therefore the central economic analysis in the Full Business Case, has assumed that the benefits offered by this increased system capability are captured as performance improvements, including reduction in passenger delays by improving the reliability of infrastructure and improved punctuality of trains which delivers additional revenue from an increase in passenger numbers.