Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether East Coast Rail has carried out any study or projections of what would be the effect of converting one carriage on the East Coast intercity from first class to second class.

East Coast has conducted some limited analysis on the effect of converting first to standard class carriages on the franchise. Their analysis shows that standard class is not currently capacity constrained. As such, they consider that there is no immediate demand for more standard class carriages and, especially considering the upcoming introduction of the new InterCity Express trains, such a conversion is not likely to provide the best outcome for East Coast passengers or taxpayers.