Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Davies of Gower on 13 May (HL4207), what impact the rigidity of the Network Code has had on the revision of train timetables on the East Coast Main Line; and what consideration they have given to instructing the parties, including the Office of Rail and Road, to revise the code to enable a satisfactory timetable to be delivered.

The industry steering group that oversees timetable introduction concluded that there were too many outstanding issues to have confidence that the new East Coast Main Line timetable can be delivered robustly in December 2024.

Timetable production and access rights issues are governed by Network Rail’s Network Code, which is regulated by the ORR as the independent regulator to the rail industry. We expect the rail industry to work through these issues in order to deliver the upgraded timetable and realise the benefits of £4bn investment in track and train on the East Coast Main Line.