Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 4 December 2019.
Well, unlike during the period when the previous franchise agreement was being devised, when we were working on the current franchise arrangements we ensured that various passenger modelling was taken into account so that the operator and development partner was in no doubt whatsoever of what tasks would have to be undertaken to meet passenger demand. So, as a consequence, there are serious and significant opportunities to be able to increase capacity at certain points within the contract, as and when it is needed. Unlike under the previous agreement, TfW are able to operate in a flexible manner under this agreement and, as I said earlier, we'll be investing £5 billion into the rail network over the coming 15 years.