Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on service quality and passenger satisfaction on the East Coast Mainline following (1) timetable changes in 2025 and (2) the reduction of train length from nine to five carriages.

LNER reduced its InterCity 225 trains from nine carriages to seven carriages to improve acceleration and support faster journey times under the December 2025 timetable. Of the 54 trains LNER use for passenger services each day, only four are InterCity 225s; the rest are new Azuma trains. DfT Operator and Network Rail, as precursors to Great British Railways, are monitoring all aspects of the timetable change, including service quality, passenger experience, and train reliability.