IEP - The saga drags on

This from Howard Wade...

A good question from the Railway Lord.

Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat)
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many fewer bi-mode trains would be required to be built if the services between Paddington and Newbury and Paddington and Oxford were covered by electrical multiple unit trains and all services to the West of England via Newbury, beyond Oxford and those via Cheltenham continued to be life extended High Speed trains.

Earl Attlee (Whip, House of Lords; Conservative)
It is currently envisaged that rolling stock will be deployed as follows:

• a mixture of electric Intercity Express Programme (IEP) and electric multiple unit trains for services between Paddington and Newbury and Paddington and Oxford;
• new IEP bi-mode trains for services beyond Oxford, and those running via Cheltenham;
• and life-extended vehicles from the current high speed train fleet for services to the West of England, via Newbury.

But as for the answer, My Lord Attlee seems to be a chip off the old block.

As Douglas Jay once remarked of his father: 'His capacity for saying nothing was absolutely pre-eminent'.