Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which types of railcard are currently unavailable to purchase or renew at ticket offices.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Railcards currently unavailable to purchase at stations are 16-17 Saver, 26-30 Railcard, Disabled Persons' Railcard, Veterans Railcard and the HM Forces Railcard.
In the case of the Disabled Persons' Railcard, Veterans Railcard and HM Forces Railcard station staff are not able to verify the eligibility of passengers.
The 26-30 Railcard is only available in digital format.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to reduce rail fares after taking franchises into public ownership.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Decisions on fare changes are taken annually and agreed across government. We will always seek to strike a fair balance between passengers and taxpayers as we seek to return the railway to financial sustainability. In November, the Secretary of State confirmed that regulated rail fares will be frozen for one year from March 2026, saving passengers money as we rebuild a railway that Britain can rely on and be proud of.
Looking forward, we are moving away from the outdated, privatisation-era view of rail fares. Instead, GBR will have commercial flexibility to manage its fares revenue in a more agile and efficient manner, allowing it to create a national fares policy which makes more sense to passengers – so that they can more easily understand what fare they should be paying and why. The Secretary of State will retain a role, in order to influence and manage the overall level of fares, balancing the interests of passengers and taxpayers.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the levels of cruise vessel activity in environmentally sensitive coastal areas of the west of Scotland.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department for Transport Ministers have not discussed with the Scottish Government limiting cruise ship activity. Nor have they undertaken any assessment of the levels of such activity.
Cruise visits bring jobs and growth to coastal communities. That’s why the Government, in partnership with the industry, published the UK Cruise Growth Plan in September 2025.
That plan offers a blueprint for future collaboration on connected priorities, such as further progress towards net zero and increasing environmental protection. It sits alongside the UK Government’s Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy, which sets out our pathway and key policies to decarbonise the maritime sector.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if it is her policy that under GBR all railcards will be available to purchase and renew at ticket offices.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has set out that Great British Railways will have a broad retail function, using all available channels to serve passengers. The Railways Bill will deliver the statutory basis for this function.
For various operational and technical reasons, it is not possible to sell certain railcards at station ticket offices.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many safety breaches have there been at rail road level crossings in Greater Manchester since 2015.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Great Britain’s level crossings are among the safest in Europe. The number of incidents at rail-road level crossings in Greater Manchester since 2017/18 is set out below. No comparable data is available for previous years.
.
Fiscal Year | Incidents |
2017/2018 | 38 |
2018/2019 | 34 |
2019/2020 | 31 |
2020/2021 | 15 |
2021/2022 | 36 |
2022/2023 | 40 |
2023/2024 | 58 |
2024/2025 | 41 |
2025/2026 (to 12 December) | 38 |
Total | 331 |
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason the West Midlands Railway student season ticket is not available to purchase from ticket offices.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Due to the complexities of the discount, the three different sales cycles throughout the year, the customer service involved, student verification and the level of product knowledge needed, this has to be managed by a specialist team at West Midlands Trains’ (WMT) Head Office.
The tickets are sold via a separate E-commerce platform. All orders are then checked, processed, and fulfilled by this team. All customer service tasks, including those around refunds, are also managed in house at WMT Head Office.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 96030 on Level Crossings: Tilbury, what the longest barrier closure recorded at East Tilbury level crossing was during the most recent risk assessment; and what proportion of closures exceeded the average duration.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold this information in the format requested. I have asked Network Rail, as the infrastructure manager responsible for East Tilbury Level Crossing, to write to you as soon as the information is available.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the feasibility of the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has provided crucial certainty to industry by reinstating the 2030 phase-out date for new cars relying solely on internal combustion engines. We’re also investing over £7.5 billion to support drivers and manufacturers to make the switch to zero emission, including the £2 billion Electric Car Grant, to reduce the cost of new electric vehicles (EVs).
The certainty these commitments provide unlocks investment and benefits British consumers. More drivers than ever are choosing electric: November saw another month of increased sales, with EVs accounting for one in four cars sold.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with the International Maritime Organisation on the designation of additional Emission Control Areas adjacent to the west coast of the United Kingdom.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We, alongside EU partners, are leading work at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to bring in a new Emission Control Area (ECA) in the North-East Atlantic Ocean. This is a key measure, which covers over 5 million km2 of ocean, to reduce air pollutant emissions of vessels across the whole of the North East Atlantic and the west coast of the UK. We will continue to support and press for adoption of this vital measure at the 84th IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee in April 2026.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Railways Bill on service reliability of rail routes (a) connecting Birmingham and Walsall and (b) the rest of the West Midlands.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Railways Bill includes the introduction of Great British Railways (GBR) which will be a new public company responsible for providing the single point of leadership our railways sorely need, squarely accountable to its passengers for the service it delivers. This will help prioritise service reliability throughout the country, including Birmingham and Walsall, as well as the rest of the West Midlands.