Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to issuing a safeguarding direction to protect the alignment of the former Lewes to Uckfield line in order to enable its future use to relieve congestion on the London to Brighton line.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not intend to issue a safeguarding direction for the re-opening of the rail line between Lewes and Uckfield.
The Department is committed to improving rail services in the South East and we recognise the social and economic benefits this brings to communities. We will continue to work with stakeholders across the transport industry to identify investments that drive economic growth, deliver value for money for taxpayers, and are affordable.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposed terminal expansions at (1) London Gateway, and (2) the Port of Tilbury, and the resulting impact on available rail paths and infrastructure capacity,
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Network Rail fully understands the expansion plans at both London Gateway Port and the Port of Tilbury and is assessing how the predicted uplift in traffic due to the terminal expansions can be accommodated.
Steps have already been taken to support rail freight growth out of both ports. Network Rail has worked with freight operators and London Gateway Port to accommodate the increase in freight traffic following the recent Gemini Alliance switch away from the Port of Felixstowe.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether Network Rail, Transport for London and Transport East are coordinating their work to support the growth of rail freight from London Gateway and the Port of Tilbury.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Thameside Taskforce brings together officials from rail, ports and Local Authorities to focus on rail freight growth on the Thameside corridor. The Anglia Strategic Freight Board is made up of route executives, freight operators, freight customers and ports. Together they are working to support and co-ordinate growth initiatives for rail freight traffic using London Gateway Port and the Port of Tilbury.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to increase investment in the Essex Thameside Rail Corridor and associated cross-London transit routes.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
While some key rail infrastructure schemes have already been announced by the Chancellor, my Department is working to confirm the wider portfolio of rail enhancements. More details about rail enhancements will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of TransPennine Express services were cancelled in each month from May 2022 to May 2024.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Information on train cancellations is published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and can be found on their data portal. This data is not available by calendar month, but is published periodically, by rail periods which are 28 days in duration apart from period 1 (starts on 1 April) and period 13 (ends on 31 March). Each financial year (April to March) consists of 13 railway periods.
Table 1 shows the number of trains that were either partially or fully cancelled, and the proportion of planned services that were partially or fully cancelled by TransPennine Express, for each period from 1st April 2022 to 25th May 2024.
Table 1. The proportion of planned services for TransPennine Express that were partially or fully cancelled, each period from 1 April 2022 to 25 May 2024
Rail period | Proportion of planned trains cancelled (%) | Moving annual average of cancellations (%) |
1 April 2022 - 30 April 2022 | 4.6 | 3.4 |
1 May 2022 - 28 May 2022 | 4.5 | 3.0 |
29 May 2022 - 25 June 2022 | 5.6 | 3.6 |
26 June 2022 - 23 July 2022 | 8.2 | 5.3 |
24 July 2022 - 20 August 2022 | 6.2 | 5.3 |
21 August 2022 - 17 September 2022 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
18 September 2022 - 15 October 2022 | 6.4 | 3.5 |
16 October 2022 - 12 November 2022 | 7.9 | 4.4 |
13 November 2022 - 10 December 2022 | 6.3 | 4.1 |
11 December 2022 - 7 January 2023 | 11.8 | 7.9 |
8 January 2023 - 4 February 2023 | 8.9 | 3.1 |
5 February 2023 - 4 March 2023 | 7.2 | 2.9 |
5 March 2023 - 31 March 2023 | 5.7 | 3.3 |
1 April 2023 - 29 April 2023 | 4.5 | 3.0 |
30 April 2023 - 27 May 2023 | 6.0 | 3.0 |
28 May 2023 - 24 June 2023 | 6.0 | 4.1 |
25 June 2023 - 22 July 2023 | 5.1 | 3.6 |
23 July 2023 - 19 August 2023 | 6.4 | 4.4 |
20 August 2023 - 16 September 2023 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
17 September 2023 - 14 October 2023 | 5.0 | 3.7 |
15 October 2023 - 11 November 2023 | 6.6 | 5.1 |
12 November 2023 - 9 December 2023 | 6.4 | 5.1 |
10 December 2023 - 6 January 2024 | 5.2 | 5.9 |
7 January 2024 - 3 February 2024 | 4.3 | 3.4 |
4 February 2024 - 2 March 2024 | 2.2 | 3.2 |
3 March 2024 - 31 March 2024 | 2.3 | 3.0 |
1 April 2024 - 27 April 2024 | 2.3 | 3.2 |
28 April 2024 - 25 May 2024 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
Source: DfT analysis of ORR Table 3124
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government which statutory harbour authorities in England charge for overhanging residential balconies.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The department has not conducted a review of all Statutory Harbour Authorities to assess if they have the power to charge for overhanging residential balconies. Given the divergence in port local acts, it is not clear how many ports have this power.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how bringing railways into public ownership will (1) reduce operating costs, (2) deliver economic growth, (3) improve delivery for passengers and freight operators, (4) reduce cost to passengers, and (5) ensure fair access to the network by all passengers and freight operators.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Bringing train operations into public ownership is the first step in the Government’s plans for wider rail reform, including establishing Great British Railways (GBR). Under public ownership, passenger services will be operated in the interests of passengers, not shareholders. Under GBR, we will create a unified and simplified railway that puts passengers first, rebuilding trust.
GBR is set to be the ‘directing mind’ for the rail industry, bringing together the management of the network and the delivery of passenger services into a single public body, to deliver better services for passengers and freight customers, and better value for money for taxpayers. These changes form a critical part of the Government’s wider Plan for Change - delivering growth, jobs, and housing through greater connectivity, putting more money in people’s pockets, and rebuilding Britain.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 10 April (HL6331), whether they have held any meetings with the Port of London Authority in the past 12 months; on what date any such meetings took place; and whether the issue of overhanging residential balconies was discussed.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The department has held many meeting with the PLAs. As one of the most important UK ports, officials and Ministers from across government meet with the Port regularly to discuss a range of issues. I can confirm that the issue of balconies has been raised.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce roadside cameras, following trials carried out between October 2022 and February 2023.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department does not have any current plans to undertake further trials of roadside noise cameras. The trials demonstrated that this technology currently has the potential to be used for enforcement, but only when accompanied by human review of the recorded evidence, which is likely to lower the cost effectiveness of deploying the technology in many circumstances.
It is ultimately for local authorities and the police to consider what the most appropriate enforcement routes may be for addressing issues with excessive vehicle noise within their area. The use of noise camera technology has already been taken forward by some local authorities.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the most recent cost estimates for High Speed 2 include finance costs, or charges on the public money that will be spent on the project, in accordance with Treasury requirements and the government financial reporting manual; and what debt ratio, discount rates and assumptions were used.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The HS2 project is funded via capital contribution by the Department for Transport (DfT). Financing costs or charges on public money are not incurred by HS2 Ltd. As a Non-Departmental Public Body, HS2 Ltd also adopts the interpretations of Internation Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and additional disclosure requirements contained in the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) for the relevant financial year, where these are compatible with the requirements of the Companies Act. HS2 Ltd does not have debt as the Company is fully funded by HM Treasury/DfT. The key assumption for cost estimates is that they are currently presented in Q3 2019 prices. Regarding discount rates, the DfT’s Economic Appraisal of HS2 as presented in the “Phase One Full Business Case” (April 2020), which included the expected benefits, Ticket Revenues, construction costs and Operating Costs, were all discounted and presented in Net Present Value (NPV) terms in line with the DfT Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG) and HM Treasury Green Book guidance.