Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much (1) has been spent to date and, (2) further has been allocated, for the rebranding of rolling stock and personnel uniforms to London North Eastern Railway from Virgin Trains East Coast.

The estimated cost of rebranding the existing rolling stock and issuing new uniform items to staff is approximately £550,000. The incurring of these costs are normal at the end of any franchise where the operator changes as LNER could not use the Virgin brand following the transfer of the services to LNER.

It was also important to spend this money in order to help establish this new brand in the market and maintain customer awareness of the services on offer. Further expenditure will be incurred in the future on developing and marketing the LNER brand as the operator of the East Coast route. This will be a matter for the LNER Board and decisions will be taken by them on a commercial basis.