Network North
Baroness Taylor of Bolton Excerpts(10 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Lord Davies of Gower (Con)
My Lords, the Ely area capacity enhancement programme comprises a series of infrastructure upgrades to increase rail freight and passenger capacity in the east of England. Ely is a key hub on the cross-country freight route from Felixstowe to the north Midlands. The other, via London, is at operating capacity. Existing infrastructure in the area and its layout limit the ability to operate additional passenger and freight services. The approximate cost for full delivery of the programme would be £550 million. The scheme would increase freight capacity into the Port of Felixstowe from 36 to 42 trains per day, but the good news is that this would be expected to remove 98,000 lorry journeys per year from the roads.
Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Lab)
Will the Minister arrange for himself and his colleagues to have geography lessons?
Lord Davies of Gower (Con)
I happen to have an O-level in it.
Great British Railways
Baroness Taylor of Bolton Excerpts(2 years, 2 months ago)
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Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)
Yes, I do recognise the problem. We absolutely have taken action. We have daily meetings with the train operating company. It has put together a recovery plan, which has been reviewed by the ORR and Network Rail’s programme management office. There will be a very significant step change in the timetable in December, because 100 newly trained train drivers are going to be fully deployed by December. So early December will be the next change in the timetable, and we expect significant improvements to services to Wales and elsewhere at that time.
Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Lab)
Today there are 44 cancellations on the TransPennine Express. What do the Government intend to do about that?
Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)
I am aware that the TransPennine Express is suffering a significant number of cancellations at the moment. The Government are working very closely with the train operating company. There are many factors which are contributing to those cancellations, but I agree that they are unacceptable. We are working closely with the train operating company to resolve them where we can.