Written question asked by Kelvin Hopkins (Labour) on Tuesday, 30 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 6 April 2010. It was answered by Chris Mole (Labour) on Tuesday, 6 April 2010 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Thameslink Railway Line

Question: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what assessment he has made of the likely effect on the introduction of the new Thameslink trains of the time taken to construct the additional train maintenance depots.

Answer: The current programme for the introduction of the new fleet of trains shows the first trains entering passenger service in early 2014. Our plans assume that at least one of the two new depots proposed for this new fleet of trains will be operational before this date. There will therefore be sufficient depot servicing facilities in time for the introduction of these first trains by this date.There will be a point in the production cycle for the new fleet of trains when the second new depot will be required. Our plans assume that the second depot will be operational before this production cycle milestone is realised.

Secondary information