Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to develop a recovery strategy for rail routes on which reduced services following the COVID-19 pandemic but have now recouped revenue and passenger numbers.

As the pandemic has changed travel habits, train operators are using this opportunity to reassess their services to provide rail timetables that respond to new passenger travel patterns, and carefully balance cost, capacity and performance.

Timetables should be demand-led and built with flexibility in mind, so if passenger numbers increase as we continue to recover from the pandemic, we can look to accommodate additional services. Where operators have modified their timetables, the changes are kept under review and, where appropriate, adjusted to reflect fluctuations in demand. Additional services will be included in the upcoming timetable change.