Rail Performance Debate

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Department: Department for Transport

Rail Performance

Lord Wigley Excerpts
Wednesday 13th November 2024

(3 days, 18 hours ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Wigley Portrait Lord Wigley (PC)
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My Lords, further to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Humphreys, on the condition of the platforms along the north Wales line, if the Government can find £100 million for bat runs relative to HS2, surely they can find a fraction of that money to help disabled people along the north Wales coast.

Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill Portrait Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)
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The provision in HS2 for bats is a whole other subject, but I sympathise with the drift of the noble Lord’s argument. We should be doing as much as we can to enable access to the railway system by everyone. The noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, who is in her place, knows that we have not been very good at it so far. I made a commitment to the House during the passage of the Bill of which we had the Third Reading today that we would do more. Level access, which I have already referred to, is an important subject. It is hard to crack but we should start, because if we do not start then we will never finish.