Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what payments they expect to receive from (1) Virgin Rail Group, and (2) Stagecoach Group, in each year from 2020 to 2023 under the proposed East Coast Partnership; and whether those payments might be lower than those contracted under the existing franchise.

We have set out our plans to end the operational divide between track and train, and from 2020 the East Coast Partnership will be one of the first of a new generation of integrated regional rail operations.

This will be subject to a competitive process, and will include appropriate contributions paid from the private partner to the government.