Chris Philp
Main Page: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)Department Debates - View all Chris Philp's debates with the Department for Transport
(6 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberThe answer to the hon. Lady’s question is that a temporary timetable is being put in place on Northern that should stabilise the timetable this week, and then, step by step, it will start to put back in place the extra services that were promised post May.
For at least three years now, my constituents have on occasion been unable to get to work, unable to reach hospital appointments and unable to get home in the evening to see loved ones. GTR has presided over an incompetent railway network for far too long. Can the Secretary of State confirm that if the Glaister report finds that GTR has been negligent in the handling of this timetable introduction, which has certainly been a fiasco, and that if GTR fails urgently to take the steps required to fix it, the measures he is contemplating will include removing its franchise?
I have been absolutely clear that, if GTR is found to be negligent, I will use the powers that I have under the Railways Act 1993 and under the contractual arrangements to deal with this.