Written question asked by Paul Rowen (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 25 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 30 March 2010. It was answered by Chris Mole (Labour) on Tuesday, 30 March 2010 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Rolling Stock

Question: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what steps his Department has taken to meet the commitments in the 2007 Rail White Paper in relation to carriages for Northern Trains; and whether those commitments will be met without new train orders.

Answer: The Department for Transport has recently announced an agreement with Northern Rail to add vehicles to its rolling stock fleet.The £300 million programme of electrification announced for the North West will allow for the cascade of electric rolling stock from Thameslink. This will provide additional capacity, on well as improving the speed and reliability of services. The Department is also currently finalising new forecasts of passenger demand, which it will use to assess the requirement for any further additional rolling stock.

Secondary information