Train travel recovery plans need to accelerate, MPs warn

Department for Transport accused of underestimating the work needed to revive rail use after Covid

Rail travel in England risks losing out to cars in the recovery from Covid because the Department for Transport lacks urgency and does not appreciate the scale of the challenge ahead", MPs have warned.

A critical report from the Commons public accounts committee said that taxpayers could also be left on the hook for large additional costs because new contracts had been awarded without sufficient transparency to inform oversight".