To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of overcrowding on trains on (a) value for money and (b) customer experience for rail users.

The latest results from the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS), which is run by Transport Focus, found that 69% of passenger journeys were rated satisfactory nationally for the level of crowding on trains. Almost half of journeys (46%) were rated satisfactorily for the value for money of the price of the ticket. Both of these findings were unchanged compared to the Autumn 2017 results. The Autumn 2018 results are available at this link: https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/research-publications/publications/national-rail-passenger-survey-nrps-autumn-2018-main-report/. Earlier NRPS wave data are available here: http://www.railpassengerdata.org.uk/.

The Williams Rail Review was established in September 2018 to look at the structure of the whole rail industry and the way passenger rail services are delivered. Rail crowding and value for money are both considered in the recently published paper on the user experience of the railway in Great Britain available at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-user-experience-of-the-railway-in-great-britain-an-evidence-paper.

More than 4,000 extra weekly services have been added to the network nationally in the last two years, with over 2,000 further services due to be added in the next few years. In addition, 4,500 new train carriages are to be introduced between now and the end of 2022, benefitting passengers across the country.