East Anglia Rail Franchise

Debate between Chloe Smith and Claire Perry

Wednesday 16th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

I do understand the need for special services on race days, my right hon. Friend will be pleased to hear.

Such a service has been looked at carefully and I looked at it again today. Two things would need to happen to make it work. The first is a series of infrastructure investments, including in the Ely North junction, which several Members have referenced. The disappointing news on that is that the original project cost of about £30 million to £40 million has escalated to more than £130 million in the current analysis. Given that we are in the business of delivering infrastructure against the very tight Hendy review, with a known amount of funding, that is simply not acceptable. The team has been sent away to look at how that work could be delivered more cost-effectively.

Other works such as doubling track, putting in passing loops or improving signalling capability would also need to happen to deliver a robust service. I believe that work will be done on that as part of the analysis going into the next control period, which starts in four years’ time.

Alternatively, a service could be provided that skips stops. One challenge on our network is that we always want stops from everywhere to anywhere, but it is also possible to provide fast and semi-fast services with slightly different stopping patterns. The beauty of having a unified group of people who work intelligently together, is that they can work out what such a measure might look like for the benefit of the region. I do not suggest that there should be a bidding process for whose station will be missed out, but we could consider whether there is a way to serve better an enormous housing development or a new town by using existing infrastructure.

It has become clear that we are good in this country at specifying enormous investments in infrastructure without necessarily thinking more creatively about how we could deliver that solution through better rolling stock or minor track improvements. For example, we might not necessarily need dual tracking, but perhaps there could be some passing places, and I encourage people to work on that.

[Chloe Smith]

I am grateful to have another moment to speak in this debate. The Minister has asked for a couple of fast services that will achieve Norwich in 90 and Ipswich in 60. Will she confirm that in a way those are bonuses, because the true version of Norwich in 90 and Ipswich in 60, and the better services that we all look for, will come when we have new trains and improved infrastructure? Those extras are just that—extras—until we can achieve the long-term goal.

[Claire Perry]

My hon. Friend makes a good point, and controlling the franchise levers is the first step in the process. We expect bidders to exceed what we have asked for in the franchise, because we are saying “This is the minimum that we expect”. We will, of course, award the franchise to the bidder that is able to exceed those minimums, including with possible additional services. When the bids come in tomorrow I have no idea what they will contain, but we are confidently expecting those specifications to be exceeded.

As I have said, I am confident that the winning bidder for this franchise will deliver huge, tangible, transformational improvements that are commensurate with the economic weight of the region. We will see route improvements, and we have set out what we expect as a minimum. However, this is not set in stone; this is a starting point. When the franchise starts up next October, there will be every opportunity to change routes, add additional service patterns or new stations—that has happened across the country—improve timetables, and deliver better scheduled services, or even special services such as to Newmarket on race days.

I urge Members to continue to work together, pulling in the excellent provision of help and information from the local enterprise partnership and local businesses, and to help us make the business case for the improvements to infrastructure that the Government will make. We must also work with the operators to encourage them to change their patterns.

We have heard from several hon. Members tonight, and my right hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Sir Alan Haselhurst), who is an assiduous campaigner on this issue, re-emphasised the absolute importance of new rolling stock in this franchise. Crucially, he also mentioned the linkage of rail services to airports. I am lucky not to have airports in my portfolio, or indeed HS2, but the linkage of rail services to airports is vital. He will be pleased to know that already an early morning service has been introduced from Liverpool Street to Stansted, because it turned out that more than 500 people a night were sleeping at the airport because they could not get there early enough. That has now changed, and a new service is running.

Great Eastern Main Line

Debate between Chloe Smith and Claire Perry

Tuesday 11th November 2014 Westminster Hall

[Claire Perry]

Forgive me, Mr Turner. You are quite right to correct me.

It is an opportune time to review the case for investment in the region, which is why the report is so timely. We have already committed to £170 million of track and signalling improvements on the Great Eastern main line next year and have agreed a package of improvements with the Abellio Greater Anglia franchise, including additional services between Stansted and Cambridge and refreshed trains on the Norwich to London route. I was joined by hon. Friends on a visit to road test some of the improvements. In fact, there is a photo somewhere of my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich trying out the new loo—in a mock-up capacity only. It is good to see that we are not standing still and waiting for investment; we are upgrading in line with what passengers require, which means simple things such as new toilets that do not leak, new carpets and seat covers, plug sockets and new lighting. Regarding wi-fi, which is available to all customers on inter-city services and free to first-class passengers, we are trying to find out the future deployment plans. I agree with my hon. Friends that it is an important part of the package going forward and will write to them.

Abellio Greater Anglia will work with the industry to develop and deliver all the Government’s control period 5 projects, including Crossrail, Great Eastern main line infrastructure improvements, improvements to the Ely area, Stratford to Angel Road capacity improvements, a new station at Lea Bridge, and additional peak capacity in 2014 to 2019 into Kings Cross and Liverpool Street to meet forecast commuter growth. There will also be additional freight capacity. We have not discussed freight, but it is an exceptionally important part of the railway mix, and we are considering ways of unblocking lines to allow both and freight and passenger trains to run. This is an incredibly opportune time for such a report. My boss the Secretary of State and I have both read it, and we are looking carefully at how the improvements might be delivered.

I commend the work that the group behind the report has done to unblock some of the long-held barriers of party political or cross-county agendas. It has been refreshing to see a strong cross-party and cross-county approach to the work. My hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich asked whether I had received any representations from the Opposition Front-Bench team, or indeed any Opposition Member, on this subject, but the answer is no. I am unsurprised, however, given that the previous Government electrified only eight miles of track in 13 years and failed to realise the valuable role that transport plays in building economic growth in regions across the country.

[Chloe Smith]

Does the Minister agree that it is a great shame that Opposition Members are not present to speak for themselves on the matter?

[Claire Perry]

It is a great shame, but it does not surprise me.

The Government will now be asking Network Rail how to progress the detailed development of the case that has been eloquently made for the line-speed changes, using the funding provided in the current rail investment strategy, to fund the best-value-for-money elements for completion by 2019. The opportunity for shorter journey times will be included in the development of the franchise to 2016, which is to be awarded from October of that year onwards. That could lead to bidders for the new franchise being asked specifically in their proposals how to address the requirements set out in the “Norwich in 90” report, in particular the totemic achievement of the 90-minute travel time. We propose to publish the consultation for the next East Anglia franchise on 1 December 2014, so it is an important time for anyone who wants to make further representations. In future franchise competitions, we expect bidders to give weight to both financial and quality considerations of rolling stock, focusing on passengers.

It is an exciting time for the rail industry across the UK. I heartily welcome the report, which represents an excellent forensic analysis of what can be unlocked with relatively small investment. I look forward to working with colleagues in taking the recommendations forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chloe Smith and Claire Perry

Tuesday 1st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Miss Smith]

I have a number of things to say to the hon. Lady, none of which would include any personal questions, of course.

I can assure the hon. Lady that the Government are reducing the deficit fairly, and I would point out in particular that we are taking 1.1 million of the lowest-paid workers out of tax entirely, and the majority of them are women. She will welcome that as much as I do. Furthermore, she should know that unemployment rose to its level of 30% under her party’s Government.[Official Report, 3 November 2011, Vol. 534, c. 6MC.]

[Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend also agree that one of the most important steps this Government have taken is to exempt from the pay freeze the lowest-paid workers in the public sector, 80% of whom are women?

[Miss Smith]

I certainly do welcome that, and it is important to combine that with taking women out of income tax, as I have already mentioned.