Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)
I rise to present a petition on behalf of more than 3,000 petitioners from west Cornwall, which calls for a resilience rail service between Penzance and Paddington. It was largely precipitated because of concern about inadequate investment in that service and also, of course, because of the disruption caused to the service by the February storms in both Penzance and Dawlish. It promotes major investment in the sleeper upgrade, improved signalling and a train care centre at Long Rock in my constituency—something for which we have campaigned for a very long time and on which we expect an announcement shortly.
The first petitioner is Janet Trudgeon of Rosehill, Marazion, and the petition reads as follows:
The Petition of residents of St Ives constituency and others,
Declares that the Petitioners believe that if the Government can spend up to £50 billion on high speed rail investment to the north (HS2), the people of Cornwall should not be denied the investment necessary for a resilient rail service to Paddington.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to do what is necessary to make sure that the rail link from Penzance to Paddington is one that passengers can rely on.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
[P001362]