Great Western Railway: Infrastructure

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Wednesday 21st January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is completely right. At one stage, out of the total train fleet for long-distance services, with 400-odd engines in those trains, some 110 of them were not functioning due to a fault that appears to be something to do with fuel supply and fuel pumps. The good news is that the number is now down to 38. I am very frustrated by the time it has taken to fix them, but they are being fixed.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Wigley (PC)]

My Lords—

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the Labour Benches, and then we will come to the Conservative Benches.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, I am confident that the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower, will join with me in praising the care of the GWR staff. Nevertheless, both he and I suffer on our journeys, often together, from Swansea, because of the delays. Can my noble friend the Minister say where the GWR stands in the comparative performance rates of all the railways in this matter?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

It was pretty good. It has got worse because of the engine shortage. Reliability has been very poor. I am expecting it to now recover. I am on its back.