(12 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
David Wright (Telford) (Lab)
I welcome this opportunity to raise issues relating to Telford rail services. May I begin by asking you, Mr Deputy Speaker, to pass on my thanks to Mr Speaker, who visited Telford on Friday? I am sure that you will pass on my regards to him. He visited a couple of local schools and did a parliamentary event, which I believe went very well indeed.
I will cover three big issues this evening. The first is the lack of a direct link from Telford to London. That issue is embroiled in what can only be described as the fiasco of the west coast franchise process. The second is the need for speedy and regular services at a reasonable price into the west midlands conurbation and across to Shrewsbury, with improved availability of seats. The third is the ongoing improvements to station infrastructure and the current investment at Telford Central station.
Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate, and especially on his second point about the link between Telford and the rest of the conurbation. Does he agree that that is especially important because it would allow his constituents to visit Dudley, which is, as he would concede, the birthplace of the industrial revolution, and the truly world-class Black Country living museum?
David Wright
It would give my constituents that opportunity, although, of course, we have the birthplace of industry in Telford. I will touch on that a bit later, because the Ironbridge gorge is designated as a world heritage site. Dudley does not have a world heritage site, as I keep telling my hon. Friend, but he does not seem to want to accept the views of the United Nations and UNESCO.
Telford sits on the railway line that runs from Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury. We have strong connections to the west midlands conurbation, due to our new town history. In fairness to my hon. Friend, many people moved out of the west midlands conurbation, from areas such as Dudley, to Telford when it became a new town and we welcomed them. There is a significant flow of local passenger traffic, including commuters and leisure users, into Wolverhampton and the local stations through to Birmingham New Street. On a serious note, rapid access to Birmingham New Street is crucial to the local economy, as is rapid access to Birmingham International, with its links to the regional airport. If High Speed 2 does come about—I certainly hope that it does, as it is a significant infrastructure project—connectivity with the west midlands conurbation will be increasingly important for commuters and business users in the Telford area.
At present, the local services are run by Arriva Trains Wales and London Midland. A service from Telford Central runs about every 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the time of day. Those services run to Shrewsbury and across into the conurbation. I will return to the local service issues a little later. First, I will spend some time talking about the lack of a direct rail service to London from Telford, and indeed from Shropshire and mid-Wales.
Direct services to and from the capital have a chequered history in our area. The line from Wolverhampton is not electrified, which has been a problem historically. With the advent of faster, more efficient diesel units, that is not such a problem now. In the past, services to and from London had to stop at Wolverhampton, where a diesel unit was attached or removed. The regular London service ceased in the early 1990s, with a brief return and cancellation later in the 1990s. The old service ran to and from Euston up to Shrewsbury, calling at Telford Central and Wellington, which is in the Wrekin constituency. At that time, the diesel change, which I have mentioned, caused a time delay and platform blockages at Wolverhampton. It is no surprise, therefore, that the service was cancelled. However, I am assured that due to the efficiency of the new diesel units—the Voyager-type trains—our services could be integrated into the wider timetable and into the electric routes, so that there are direct services to London.
After the abandonment of the service, there was an attempt to run an open-access service by the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone railway. The Minister will be aware of that. Local MPs fought hard to get that service in the teeth of opposition from other rail companies, which tried consistently to block access to the lines. The service picked up passengers at Telford Central and was recognised as one of the best in the country for the passenger experience. The problem was that the length of the journey into Marylebone and the unsustainably low ticket price meant that it made a significant loss. The last service ran in January 2011. The service folded with the loss of more than 50 jobs.
Following that, colleagues from constituencies across Shropshire and mid-Wales and I lobbied hard for the inclusion of a direct service as part of the west coast franchise. We met all the main potential bidders, along with the former Secretary of State and the former rail Minister. We managed to get the main bidders to include services to Telford and Shropshire in their proposals, but now we are in limbo because of the £40 million debacle surrounding the west coast franchise.
The Secretary of State has told us that, when the current franchise ends on 9 December, services will continue for up to 14 months with Virgin, and then a competition will be run for an interim agreement—that is what he called it. That means that a short contract could follow the interim service from Virgin—we do not know for how long it will be. That could leave us without a direct service to and from Telford for several years, and possibly with a complete lack of service. That is frankly a mess, and companies are unlikely to invest in rolling stock to deliver a service to Telford, Shropshire and mid-Wales unless the Government give a clear commitment to include a service to our areas as part of a shortened contract or a future longer-term franchise.
That is extremely frustrating for commuters, businesses and local leisure service providers. We want to expand rail use and further promote Telford as an attractive location for business investment. As my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) knows, we have a world heritage site in the Ironbridge gorge and numerous major tourist attractions across our area. We want increased visitor numbers. It is about making Telford a place that people want to visit and locate their businesses in, our getting to London more efficiently and, crucially, getting people from London to Telford and the midlands. It is not all one way—down to London; it is also about getting people out into the midlands from London to invest.
Will the Minister clarify exactly what is happening? Will he give the House an assurance that a direct service to Telford is a priority for him and the Department? Will he confirm a timetable—excuse the pun—for the arrival of services at the Telford platforms?
The second theme that I want to pursue is the provision of local services, which I mentioned briefly earlier. There has been a major increase in the use of local services. A fast, reliable, comfortable and reasonably priced local service is the central concern of most rail users from Telford. The Passenger Focus national passenger survey in 2011—the results of the 2012 survey will be out next January—shows broadly high satisfaction with local service providers. However, if we drill down further into local issues, hard evidence shows problems of overcrowding and the inability to get a seat, service delays and concerns about the cost of travel.
In the current readers’ survey in the Shropshire Star, most people who had a view said that the train service was satisfactory or good, but nearly 20% said that it was poor or very poor. That is not good enough. There is overall satisfaction with the main providers, but there are problems with the service locally. That is not new. I do not suggest that the difficulty started two and a half years ago. It is a long-term problem, which we must tackle. One constituent who spoke to me today after reading that I was holding the debate said that his recent experience as a leisure traveller on the service was poor and that, as a pensioner, he did not want to stand from Birmingham to Telford. He also said that that discouraged him from using the service in future. That is sad—people not wanting to use the service because they are not comfortable using it.
The general view is that we can do better. We clearly need to increase capacity at peak times and I would welcome the Minister’s thoughts. We want a regular service with trains that turn up on time, and people want a seat. It is not rocket science, but simple stuff, and we need to get it right.
My third point is about station infrastructure. There is some positive news. Telford central station is undergoing improvements. That involves providing better facilities in and around the main building, along with improvements to platform shelters. That is good news, which is really welcome. The station was looking pretty tired. It is not old—it is quite new—but it was looking tired because of its construction type. I welcome the investment.
There has also been better integration of bus and rail services. For example, the area outside the station is being used as a coach pick-up point following lobbying by me, local resident Ricky Jones and the senior citizens forum, which keeps me on my toes.
In closing, I make a plea for the retention of services at smaller stations. My constituency has a small station at Oakengates. I grew up in St Georges and Oakengates, and I am fond of that station, which gets a regular service and is not under threat. However, I want to flag up that alongside major services and infrastructure debates, little gems such as Oakengates station provide a valuable service to local people. I hope we can keep it that way.
I look forward to the Minister’s reply. If we were in American politics we would be in the same party, being fundamentally supporters of the Democratic party. I know he is a big fan of Hillary Clinton—as am I—and I hope he will demonstrate tonight that he is also a big fan of Telford.
The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mr Simon Burns)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Telford (David Wright), not only on securing this debate but on the courteous and inimitable way in which he has made his case. He raised a number of important issues, and I will do my best to respond to them in the time available.
The hon. Gentleman is correct to say that Shropshire no longer has a direct service to London. Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway provided a direct service from Shropshire to London and was—as the hon. Gentleman said—an open-access operator run as a commercial entity. Many of WSMR’s passengers were disappointed when Deutsche Bahn decided to stop those services. That was, of course, entirely a commercial decision for Deutsche Bahn, and not something in which the Government could intervene. I understand, however, that the decision was made on the basis that the service could not provide a return on investment, and that the operator had made considerable losses since it was launched in April 2008.
WSMR held track access rights to run services from Marylebone to Wrexham until December 2014. Once it stopped running those services, any operator—either passenger or freight—could have applied to the Office of Rail Regulation for the rights to run trains on those routes. Alternative services are provided by other rail companies, such as Virgin West Coast, London Midland and Chiltern Railways, which is also owned by Deutsche Bahn. It is worth noting that even with a change at Birmingham International, existing services on Virgin and Arriva Trains are up to half an hour quicker than WSMR services from London to Shrewsbury.
As I am sure the hon. Gentleman will appreciate, the cancelled west coast main line rail franchise is our top departmental priority at the moment, and I am truly grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s input to the wider debate. Clearly, serious mistakes have been made. I understand that the cancellation of the west coast competition came as a great disappointment to many passengers, and particularly to his constituents in Telford, given that First Group had stated publicly that it would introduce the direct services between Telford and London that the hon. Gentleman has spoken about.
As part of the two consultation exercises that the Department held on the inter-city west coast service, we received a number of representations about reintroducing direct services to Shropshire from London in the future. Although the Department did not specify a requirement for a direct service from Telford in the invitation to tender, we expected bidders to take account of consultation responses when developing their service proposals. All bidders therefore had the opportunity to propose enhanced services to Telford. However, the contents of bids are commercially confidential, and some bidders have chosen not to put details of their proposals in the public domain. I am therefore not in a position to confirm whether or not that was the case for the other shortlisted bidders, as it would be inappropriate and wrong for me to disclose what was in the confidential bids.
As the House knows, the Secretary of State has asked for two reviews of the west coast main line franchise process. The first, led by Sam Laidlaw, is examining the events that led to the cancellation of the ICWC franchise on 3 October. An interim report from Mr Laidlaw setting out what went wrong, and his initial thinking on why it went wrong, was published on 29 October. His final report is due at the end of this month.
The second review of the wider rail franchising programme—by Eurostar chairman Richard Brown—is due by the end of this year. Decisions on the timing and nature of competitions for future franchises will be taken once we receive Richard Brown’s report, so it would be wrong to speculate on his findings at this stage, including the implications for any services to and from Telford.
Obviously, we must learn lessons from the reviews and will need to run a new competition for the west coast franchise. The Government are fully committed to a franchising system that delivers for both the taxpayer and the fare payer, with private sector investment and innovation helping to drive the improvements and value that passengers deserve. We want that to happen as quickly as possible, but we want to get it right, which will take some time. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will therefore forgive me for not speculating about the Laidlaw and Brown reviews today, but I should like to reassure him that we will continue to keep the House informed of all developments, as we have done so far.
As I have said, although the cancelled ICWC competition did not have a direct service to Shropshire included in the specification, I can assure the hon. Gentleman that, when we are in a position to restart the bid, he will have an opportunity to make the case on behalf of his constituents.
A future west coast operator would also need to consider rolling stock for services. Unlike the majority of the network covered by the west coast franchise, the line to Shrewsbury via Telford is not electrified, meaning that any direct services would need to use more expensive diesel trains rather than today’s Pendolino trains. The House will recall that the coalition Government reaffirmed our commitment to a rolling programme of electrification of the rail network when we announced the latest phase of our investment programme in the summer, which will see more than £9.4 billion invested from 2014 to 2019 to deliver a greener, more cost-efficient railway that is better for freight and for passengers. This comprehensive investment programme represents the largest and most ambitious modernisation of our railways since the Victorian era. It includes an electric spine route running from the south coast to the east midlands, and a massive improvement of services in south Wales. I expect future phases of the programme to extend electrification even further. The lines serving Telford and Shropshire might well be a route that is considered.
Telford currently has two services an hour to Wolverhampton and Birmingham—there are slightly more in the peak hours—one of which is the fast service travelling direct to Wolverhampton before calling at Smethwick Galton Bridge for the interchange with Snow Hill line services, which go on to Birmingham New Street. The other service is the stopping service. I am aware that the existing services are very popular, although I am afraid I cannot promise to mandate new services at the moment. That said, nothing in the franchise agreements prevents operators from putting on additional services if there is sufficient passenger demand. The Department would be happy to look at any proposal that would mean that that happened. However, operators would want to reassure themselves that any new services were commercially viable, and that appropriate rolling stock was available, before they considered implementing new services. As with direct services to London, I expect that bidders for the next west coast franchise will want to look carefully at that to see whether such an opportunity exists.
The hon. Gentleman mentioned existing services and cited the example of an elderly gentleman who had to stand on his journey to Telford. I have considerable sympathy with him. I believe it is important that we have enough capacity on trains on the existing service to minimise such situations. I fully appreciate that travelling on a crowded train is not ideal, and I am sure the hon. Gentleman agrees. Clearly, in some places, railways are the victims of their own success, with more people travelling on the rail network than ever before—I am talking not just about the Telford line, but about the whole of England and Wales.
Although I am not able to promise more capacity in Telford, I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the Government are facing up to the issue of capacity across the network. For example, the west midlands will soon benefit from 40 new rail carriages that have been ordered and are expected to come into service in 2014, strengthening a number of different services on the London Midland network. Although the Shropshire line through Telford is not planned to be a direct recipient of that additional capacity in this phase, this is a rolling programme targeting the most crowded sections of the network. I give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that we will keep the train situation in his constituency under review.
It is important that existing services operate reliably, and I seek to reassure the hon. Gentleman. London Midland, for example, has faced driver shortages in recent weeks. That has affected passengers on its network, including on the Shropshire line. We take that problem very seriously indeed and are working closely with London Midland to address it so that we can reduce the sort of incidents and situations that have arisen on the line, causing problems for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents and those of other hon. Members in recent weeks.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind words on the investment at Telford station, which is being delivered as part of the national stations improvement programme. It is a reflection on the hon. Gentleman that he is prepared, in a debate of this nature, to be generous in recognising what is going on in his constituency, and the improvements that are being made to benefit his constituents. As he will appreciate, the national stations improvement programme has made a total of £150 million available over five years to improve passenger facilities at busy stations in England and Wales that the public have identified as not up to scratch.
The choice of schemes, as the hon. Gentleman will be aware, has been managed at a local level with Network Rail and train operating companies working together to agree the most efficient way to deliver the upgrades. As the hon. Gentleman alluded to in his comments, Telford was one of more than 240 stations to benefit from the programmes so far. It is now nearing completion and has been a good example of that co-operative work. It shows that through continued investment in stations across the network—nearly £1 million on the project in Telford alone—we can make a real difference to the passenger experience. Although the programme at Telford has suffered some setbacks during its course, I believe that when the work is completed and passengers are able to enjoy the new facilities, such as the new, refurbished waiting rooms, they will agree with both of us that this has been money well spent.
We remain committed to further station improvements across the country, and as the hon. Gentleman will be aware, the recent high-level output specification announcement included a further £100 million of funding for station improvements up to 2019, as well as another £100 million to extend the Access for All programme, delivering improvements for disabled people, also to 2019. The programme is of crucial importance, because there are still a number of stations where the facilities for access for disabled people are unacceptable and need to be improved. This investment will go a considerable way towards rectifying that problem in many stations.
The hon. Gentleman clearly feels that there is a lot of demand for services between Telford and London, and he has presented a strong case on behalf of his constituents in a reasonable and responsible way. I realise that I have not agreed that his points will be specified as a requirement in the next west coast franchise, but it is interesting to note that in the previous competition at least one bidder decided that there was a commercial case for running these services. As I said, he and other hon. Members will be able to contribute to the consultations prior to the franchise being drawn up, and they will have a chance, yet again, to express their views, and those of their constituents, on what is rightly for them an important issue—that of a direct service from Shrewsbury and Telford to London and back.
As I said, it is interesting to note that at least one bidder in the previous competition decided that there was a commercial case for running the services, which helps the hon. Gentleman and other hon. Members in making their case. As we prepare to re-launch the west coast pre-franchising process, the Department will need to examine a wide range of options.
I would like to thank the hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to respond in the House, and to explain the current situation and some of the constraints on what I can and cannot say owing to commercial confidentiality. I recognise that we are in this unfortunate situation regarding the west coast main line, but I urge him to make his case during the consultation process prior to the franchise agreement being drawn up. I wish him well in his endeavours on behalf of his constituents.
Question put and agreed to.