Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether their Great British Railway reforms will (1) lead to a rationalisation of the demands on timetable space, and (2) end speculative bids from franchisees for timetable space.

A new public body, Great British Railways, will run and plan the rail network, own the infrastructure, and receive the fare revenue. It will procure passenger services and set most fares and timetables, contracting with private companies to operate trains to the timetable and fares it specifies. Great British Railways will draw up contracts and the service plans that underpin them in line with its mandates to grow the railways and improve efficiency. Great British Railways will not design services that the infrastructure cannot support, or that are based on unworkable timetables, as happened repeatedly under franchising.

There will also be the potential for new open access services to be explored in the future where spare capacity exists to make best use of the network and grow new markets for rail.