Great British Railways

Debate between Baroness Vere of Norbiton and Baroness Taylor of Bolton

Tuesday 25th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[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.