Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 18 February (HL4719), whether they were (1) part of the Manchester Task Force, or (2) consulted by them, with regards to the withdrawal of the direct Sheffield to Manchester Airport train; and if so, whether they supported the decision.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Manchester Task Force (MTF) began meeting in February 2020, made up of Department for Transport, Network Rail, train operators, Rail North Partnership, Transport for the North and Transport for Greater Manchester. Through gathering evidence, developing options and publicly consulting, the task force identified a range of short and long-term actions to improve the performance of the railway in Manchester/across the North and support future growth in passengers.

The task force identified the Sheffield-Manchester Airport service, which reversed at Manchester Piccadilly, consuming two train paths in each direction, as one of the worst performing, with a significant impact on delays across the network.

The new timetable developed by MTF has delivered improvements in reliability of around 30 per cent, and the task force concept is now being used to resolve issues on the East Coast main line. As new infrastructure is realised and longer trains allow for a greater capacity with less congestion, we will look at services that could be reintroduced, possibly including direct services from Sheffield to the Airport, although there could be other towns and cities making a case for their pre-2022 direct connections to be restored as well.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 13 February (HL5039), what is the latest status of any revisions to the Crossrail 2 safeguarded route proposed by Transport for London in 2020 which are yet to be approved; and what is the timescale and next steps to complete the safeguarding of such revisions.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

As previously advised, development of Crossrail 2 was paused in 2020. Whilst the department currently has no plans to move forward with Crossrail 2, the route remains safeguarded to protect it from conflicting development and officials from my department regularly have discussions with Transport for London regarding this scheme and their other transport priorities.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 3 February (HL Deb cols 474–5), whether they will publish the analysis which suggests that a third runway is compatible with their net zero target.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

DfT analysis shows that we can achieve aviation net zero 2050 under a range of assumptions about future technology development, without the government needing to intervene directly to limit airport expansion. This analysis is set out in the technical annex of the Jet Zero Strategy, which is published on gov.uk.

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Found: Letter dated 27/02/2025 from Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill to Baroness Boycott regarding a question concerning

Found: Letter dated 27/02/2025 from Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill to Lord Rogan regarding a parliamentary question