Railways: Trans-Pennine Express

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I have already outlined to the noble Baroness some of the things that can be achieved now. The creation of Great British Railways in full does require legislation, which we will progress when parliamentary time allows.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, why do the Government not face up to the reality that TransPennine Express is a small player compared with the problem of cancellations on the west coast main line, especially by Avanti? I understand that there were three yesterday morning alone. When can we have a proper mainline service on the west coast?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I am not aware of the reasons for those cancellations, but I remind all noble Lords that sometimes cancellations have to happen that are not the fault of the train operating companies. We have worked very closely with Avanti, and we know that the proportion of Avanti-caused cancellations fell from an average of 13.2% in early January to just 1.4% at the end of March. Occasionally, it is not Avanti’s fault, and it is right that it does not take the blame in those circumstances.

E-scooters

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Tuesday 8th February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

The policy is still under development and I am grateful to my noble friend for highlighting her concerns for our consideration as we develop it going forward. It is very important that we develop a safe, proportionate and flexible regulatory regime. To do that, we need the data from the various trials which are going ahead, the future of transport regulatory call for evidence, ongoing conversations with stakeholders and more research. I reassure my noble friend that we are making progress. I recognise that there is more to be done.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

The Minister describes a very complicated and confusing situation. Is she able to explain to the House where e-scooters can be legally used in England and where they cannot? Will she pass on that information to the police?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

Yes, I can explain that. It is illegal to use a private e-scooter on all public land. It is certainly illegal to use one on the pavement or the road. Trials have been set up around the country to develop evidence for future regulatory reform, and, within those trial areas, it is allowable to ride an e-scooter on a road or cycle path. We are working very closely with the police on enforcement; for example, the National Police Chiefs’ Council is developing a national strategy for tackling the illegal use of e-scooters. My officials are working very closely with it on that.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I wholeheartedly support the wearing of face masks on public transport and, indeed, more widely. My reason for doing so is neatly summarised in the Government’s own advertising campaign, which depicts a young woman wearing a mask and saying:

“I wear this to protect you. Please wear yours to protect me.”


I find that completely convincing and, as the Government have paid for it, so must they. Why will they not extend the logic to other areas where the public are caught in contained spaces?

Covid-19: Public Transport

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

The noble Baroness is quite right. We are working very closely with local authorities to meet the needs of local communities, particularly in relation to buses, on which, as she recognises, capacity has been significantly reduced. We have an opportunity in that there will be a national bus strategy, in which we will look at how to put low- emissions vehicles on our streets.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, over the weekend, the roads in beauty spots and especially in national parks were blocked by parked cars, so much so that emergency services here in the Lake District National Park were not able to get through. However, you cannot get either into or around the national park by public transport. Will HMG therefore think very seriously indeed about any further relaxation of the lockdown, such as opening hotels or boarding houses, until we resolve the public transport problem?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

The noble Lord is right that there is a significant increase in traffic at the moment, and in certain circumstances that has led to localised congestion from parking. Of course, local authorities and the local police have the power to move cars on to make sure that emergency vehicles are not prevented from getting to their destination.

High Speed Rail (West Midlands– Crewe) Bill

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Motion to revive Bill
Tuesday 25th February 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I endorse what my noble friend has said. It is important that consideration is given to the further extension, particularly to Scotland. In addition, there have been reports that China has expressed interest in taking over the construction of the high-speed link, and that it could do it more quickly and cheaply. Is that a serious proposal? Is it being looked at by the Government? If so, when will it be considered by Parliament?

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, I would like to pursue the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, about the effect of the phase 2a Bill on phase 2b. Can the Minister confirm, first, that under this legislation a station separate from the current mainline station will be built at Crewe? This will mean that people coming down from Scotland will have to change trains. Secondly, will she confirm that, under phase 2b, trains north of Crewe are not going to run at the same speed as the HS2 trains, and that trains to Manchester from Crewe will be doing only the same speed as the 125 trains?

Transport: Buses

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

The right reverend Prelate is right, and pollution is a key element that we are taking forward in our strategy. To date, the Government have provided £240 million, which went towards 7,000 cleaner and better buses, but we must do more. In the new bus package that was announced recently, one provision was £50 million for the first all-electric bus town or city.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, this week, the Government announced that electric cars will be allowed to use bus lanes. Have the Government done a risk assessment of whether there will be any delays to buses using their own lanes, therefore making bus journeys longer for passengers?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

The noble Lord is right that that is one proposal on the table. It is not set in stone that it will indeed be allowed to happen, but it is important that we make sure that people feel able to take up electric vehicles. They are very important to our future carbon strategy, and of course we are looking at the impact on buses.

Railways: Reliability

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

As my noble friend said, LNER is hoping to introduce new services to Lincoln from September. As he also said, this is dependent on Network Rail approving its timetable bid. The lesson we learned from the introduction of the May timetables last year, which caused such significant disruption, was that the industry needs to ensure that it is positively able to deliver the services to which it is committed. I know that Network Rail is working hard on that, and I thank my noble friend and the people of Lincoln for their patience in this matter.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, what is the Government’s response to Network Rail’s proposal to close the trans-Pennine line from Manchester for 39 weeks each year for the next four years? How will that help reliability?

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, we are working on proposals for the upgrade to the trans-Pennine route. It is a significant project worth nearly £3 billion and it will bring alternative routes. We are working through that and will publish details shortly.

Railway Services: The Pennines

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Thursday 17th January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, we want to see further significant improvements in reliability for Northern passengers. The problems we have seen have been caused by a number of factors. We are working closely with Transport for the North, which co-manages the franchise, to drive this, and we have seen significant improvements in reliability, especially since the December timetable changes were successfully introduced. But there have been, as the noble Lord points out, more than 40 days of strikes on Northern and ending these strikes would of course significantly improve reliability. Although the disputes are between the union and the train operators, the Government are doing all they can to help resolve the issue.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister has announced the improvement in the service. Is it true that Network Rail wrote to the Transport Secretary in September 2018 saying that from next year for the next five years the line will be closed for 39 weeks each year? Is that right?

Railways: CrossCountry

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Wednesday 18th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, I certainly agree with the noble Baroness on that. Part of the problem is the increasing demand from passengers travelling into London on our railways. We want to ensure that the CrossCountry service continues to provide other options for passengers so that they do not have to travel into central London.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

When the CrossCountry franchise is considered, will the Government ensure that the company winning the bid has sufficient trains and, more importantly, sufficient drivers and guards to run those trains, unlike Northern in Cumbria?

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, as I said before, one of the things we will be expecting the new franchise operator to deliver is more rolling stock, to deal with overcrowding. I say from recent experience that we will be looking closely at the train drivers that it has available.

Railways: Train Timetables

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Wednesday 11th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, with the delivery of the new timetable, we have had to cancel services, and services in Hertfordshire have been particularly badly affected, with consistently poor performance. Once all the services are in place, passengers from Hitchin and Welwyn will be able to take direct services through the Thameslink core to several London stations. I appreciate that that is little comfort for the coming weeks, but from Sunday the interim timetable will improve reliability, prioritise peak-time services and aim to reduce the long gaps in services.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, the Northern rail service and the Lakes line is only 50% of the previous service. Does the Minister realise that those trains run only because crews have been transferred from the other Cumbrian line to Barrow and west Cumbria? What is she going to do to ensure that Northern has enough train drivers to run the timetable that it says it is going to? Why does not she take the franchise away from it?

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, I am aware of the 50% service, which was also only just recently reintroduced. It is supplemented by buses, but I am aware that that is not acceptable. By the end of July, we will see the restoration of services that were temporarily withdrawn to restore stability, but we are working closely with Northern to ensure that it is able to deliver the provision that it has promised.