Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many trains operated by East Coast Main Line were reported as being “full and standing” over the weekend of 16–18 August; and when they expect to allocate enough rolling stock to their appointed train service operator to overcome overcrowding on the line.

On Friday 16 August 2019, 12 trains operated by London North Eastern Railway (LNER) were reported as being full and standing. On Saturday 17 August, there was 1, and on Sunday 18 August, there were 6.

It is worth noting that many passengers may have chosen to travel over this weekend as they could not travel over the weekend 24-26 August 2019, the August bank holiday, due to planned major engineering works that closed the East Coast Main Line out of London Kings Cross. Also, there was significant disruption to services the previous weekend, due to a national power supply failure on 9 August 2019, which may have resulted in customer deferring travel plans to the weekend of 16-18 August 2019.

LNER is currently introducing its new Azuma intercity train fleet. This will be one of biggest fleet upgrades in a generation, marking a step change for passengers on the route, with the new trains bringing greater seating capacity, connectivity and enabling reduced journey times. As the new trains are rolled out in phases until mid-2020, capacity will increase across the route, helping to reduce crowding.