The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Keir Mather)
It is a pleasure to respond to this debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury (Julia Buckley) on securing it and for speaking so ardently about the critical importance of rail connections in rural areas. She also set out a strong case for the historic yet modern and classic yet avant-garde town of Shrewsbury, and all that it has to offer people across the United Kingdom.
It would be remiss of me not to reflect on the fact that a debate that began with Shrewsbury grew into a fascinating tour of the rail challenges and opportunities in rural towns the length and breadth of our beautiful country.
Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley) (LD)
My rural constituency is lucky enough to be only 21 miles from London, but the train from Dorking travels at 21 mph, which, according to my arithmetic, means that it takes one hour to get there. Some 1,900 people have signed a petition calling for a faster train, and the director of South Western Railway is interested. Will the Minister meet me to discuss faster trains to Dorking?
Keir Mather
I am very glad that the hon. Member managed to sneak in before the end of the debate. I cannot fault his maths on the challenge that he describes. I will ensure that his request for a meeting is passed on to the Rail Minister, who, I am sure, will be very glad to meet him.
Colleagues must forgive me, because although I have reflected closely on their points during the debate, and shall feed them into Department for Transport processes on improving rail connectivity between rural towns and London, the substance of my remarks will focus on rail connections to Shrewsbury. My hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury worked so hard to secure the debate and deserves a full response to the issues that she raised.
Members from across the House, including my hon. Friends the Members for Wolverhampton North East (Sureena Brackenridge), for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham), for North West Leicestershire (Amanda Hack) and for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher), and the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton)—I could go on, Madam Deputy Speaker, but you will be pleased to know that I will not—made the crucial point that good rail connections are vital for connecting people to job, service and leisure destinations. They are catalysts for economic growth. People deserve access, irrespective of where they live, to all the benefits that the railway has to offer. That is why it is so important that we deliver on our promise to bring the railway back into public ownership under Great British Railways.
GBR will bring 14 separate train-operating companies and Network Rail into a single organisation that will be able to plan a fully integrated train service on which passengers can rely. GBR will be better able to offer the fast and frequent connections to, from and between major economic centres. When people need to change trains—for example, when they change from a rural connection to an inter-city service—GBR will be far better able to make connections dependable, as they are for passengers on the world’s best-performing railways. Of course, in a system that needs to cater for many needs, and to connect many towns and cities across the country, while improving performance and reducing costs for taxpayers, some compromise is necessary. Although it may not be possible in every instance to provide direct services to all places, we are determined to ensure that GBR offers people excellent access to their nearest major economic centre, for jobs and services, and to major rail hubs for onward connections.
Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)
I thank the Minister for giving way right at the end of the debate. My constituency does not contain a single mainline station. The six Cornish MPs would also love to meet the Rail Minister. We have a plan called “Kernow Connect”, and we have huge economic potential, with critical minerals and one of the world’s deepest ports in Falmouth, but we do not have the capacity for freight on our railway. I would appreciate the Minister’s help in setting up that meeting and moving this forward.
Keir Mather
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I will ensure that his request is put through to the Rail Minister.
Let me turn to the matter of direct services between Shrewsbury and London. I fully understand the desire of my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury for a direct connection to London. I reassure her and the community she represents that the Government are determined to improve rail services across her constituency and elsewhere. We will set out some of our ambitions in more detail in our forthcoming integrated national transport and long-term rail strategies later this year.
We have been clear that GBR must be a railway for everyone, and it will be required to engage widely with local leaders on delivering the best service for their area, supporting local growth in a way that is affordable, and supporting a high-performing railway for everyone. I welcome the advocacy of my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury, and that of other Members, and I look forward to GBR working in partnership with them to reshape services so that they meet the needs of the communities they serve.
Wendy Morton
Is there definitely space for open access in GBR? The Wrexham, Shropshire and midlands railway, which the hon. Member for Shrewsbury (Julia Buckley) talked about, is an open-access bid.
Keir Mather
I thank the right hon. Lady for her contribution. She has made similar ones about open access, and I fully agree about how important it is. We believe that when GBR manages capacity across the rail network, it might create more opportunity for open-access services when the railway is run in a more cohesive way. Open access can absolutely be part of the picture in a dynamic railway system.
The majority of passengers from Shrewsbury choose to go to Birmingham, or to other stations along the same route, and very few passengers used the Avanti service that was referenced. When Avanti withdrew its service, West Midlands Trains significantly improved its service by adding a new, limited-stop service to Birmingham, between WMT and Transport for Wales areas. Shrewsbury residents currently have three direct trains per hour to Birmingham. This is an improvement to the most popular services, and it also insulates local train service performance from issues that may occur further down the line. Since the direct service was withdrawn, Avanti has increased the number of fast services between London and Birmingham, improving interchange options for those travelling between London and Shrewsbury. I appreciate that that might not go far enough for my hon. Friend, and I am happy to take the conversation forward.
Such steps represent meaningful progress, and it is not just rail services that are being improved for local communities. We are consolidating and simplifying local transport funding for all local transport authorities. Shropshire county council will receive £8.7 million from the bus services fund, which the council can use however it wishes to deliver better bus services for local people. Shropshire county council will also receive £219 million in integrated transport fund allocations between 2026-27 and 2029-30.
I recognise my hon. Friend’s determination to pursue the open-access application from the Wrexham, Shropshire and midlands railway. The Department for Transport agrees that it would provide important connectivity for communities along the proposed route, including Shrewsbury. That is why we have provided conditional support for WSMR’s application, subject to the Office of Rail and Road and Network Rail being satisfied that services can be accommodated without compromising network performance, and without adversely affecting the rights of other operators. I hope my hon. Friend will appreciate that under the current system, access to the rail network is a matter for the ORR, as the independent regulator for the rail industry. The Department for Transport is unable to direct the ORR’s decision making directly. However, capacity remains constrained on the west coast main line, and that was a major factor in the ORR’s rejection of WSMR’s original application. Improving capacity across our rail network is a long-term priority for this Government. We are establishing GBR precisely to put in place the strategic planning and sustained investment that is needed to secure better connectivity and opportunity for communities in every part of the country.
Once it receives Royal Assent, the Railways Bill will establish a new access framework. GBR will in future be responsible for decisions about access to its network, as the single directing mind for the railway. GBR will be required to determine the best use of the network in line with its statutory duties, which include promoting the interests of railway passengers, and delivering the social and economic benefits derived from railway services. Open access will continue to play a role in offering innovative solutions and improving connectivity where it represents best use of the network. The new capacity allocation framework will embed strategic planning, and under the infrastructure capacity plan, GBR will be able to provide greater clarity and long-term certainty for open-access operators in a way that the current system does not. The Government have committed to honouring all existing access rights under GBR, including for open-access operators, for the duration of those access agreements.
In conclusion, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury for her thoughtful and constructive contributions on behalf of her constituents, and all other Members across the House who have raised the transport challenges in their constituency, have sought to hold the Department for Transport to account, and have asked how the Department can go further, faster, in delivering on its aspirations. I have listened to the points raised this evening, and I reassure my hon. Friend and other Members that the Government will reflect carefully on all of them.
Question put and agreed to.