Crewe Railway Station

Debate between Adam Jogee and Lilian Greenwood

Monday 20th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lilian Greenwood]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to advocate for more accessible journeys on the rail network, because we want everyone to be able to travel on our railways. I am sure that my officials will have heard those comments, and I will convey them to my noble Friend Lord Hendy, the Rail Minister, as I am sure he will want to look at that.

Crewe’s location is strategically important to the railway, thanks to the connectivity that it provides for passenger, freight and engineering services. No other UK station is served by more individual train operators. With more than 470 services on a typical weekday, there are just 30 minutes between the last train of the evening and the first of the following morning. It is not surprising to hear that since its opening it has formed a critical part of the UK’s transport infrastructure and will no doubt continue to do so for future generations.

Transport is an essential part of the Government’s mission to rebuild Britain. For that reason, we committed to improving rail connectivity across the midlands and the north while working with devolved leaders, as we set out in our manifesto. The previous Government’s decision to cancel phase 2 of HS2 was met with huge disappointment by leaders and communities in Crewe and, frankly, a lot more widely. As my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme highlighted, the previous Government’s appalling mismanagement of HS2 has undermined trust in our ability to build new railways and perhaps in rail more broadly. For the constituents of my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich, it meant the end of a decade of efforts to plan the benefits that the new high-speed railway would have brought to the town. Now, with the difficult position that this Government have inherited, our immediate focus is on the safe delivery of HS2 between Birmingham and London at the lowest reasonable cost.

However, while we have been clear that we cannot reverse the previous Government’s decision to cancel phase 2 of HS2, we recognise concerns about rail capacity and connectivity between Birmingham and Manchester. We are considering a range of potential solutions that will have to be carefully balanced with the very difficult fiscal context in which we are operating. That could include optimising services, delivering smaller-scale infrastructure interventions or the proposals set out by the Mayor of Greater Manchester and the Mayor of the West Midlands for a new railway line between Birmingham and Manchester.

[Adam Jogee]

I am very grateful to the Minister for giving way. May I urge her, as she seeks to consider options on capacity, to ensure that there is real and meaningful engagement with the communities that will be impacted, as mine in Newcastle-under-Lyme and those in many other parts of north Staffordshire have been? Without that real engagement, the trust that we talked about earlier simply cannot be built.

[Lilian Greenwood]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the work to engage local communities is vital as we develop future transport plans.

I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich for his passion in advocating for his constituency and ensuring that any eventual decisions take into account the role and needs of Crewe station, which plays such a vital role on the west coast main line. Of course, there are other constituencies that we need to consider, too. Those will certainly be on the Government’s mind as we consider different options. My colleague the Rail Minister had a very constructive meeting with Mayors at the end of last year; he also met my hon. Friend to discuss Crewe’s role in the proposals.