Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, dependent on a positive business case, when construction of the Leicester Station four-tracking scheme would commence.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Following Network Rail’s publication of Strategic Advice for improving capacity in the Leicester area, which identified a suite of interventions for improvements at Leicester including four-tracking south of the station, they will now produce a Strategic Outline Business Case. We expect to receive the business case by Spring 2022, and it will include proposed delivery dates for the phasing of possible interventions.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timeframe is for a decision on proposals to four-track Leicester Station.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Network Rail will be producing a Strategic Outline Business Case for the suite of interventions identified in their Leicester Strategic Area Advice to accommodate future growth. The business case will consider enhancement proposals including four-tracking to the south of Leicester Station and we expect the case to be submitted to the Department for assessment in Spring 2022.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with Midlands Connect on a direct rail connection between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham as part of the Midlands Rail Hub project.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Officials have been in discussion with Midlands Connect and Network Rail regarding proposals for new infrastructure, which would allow direct services between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham. A strategic outline business case is being developed by Midlands Connect, and we expect to receive it in Spring 2021.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to introduce quadruple-track railway at Leicester station; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Following Network Rail’s publication of the Strategic Advice for improving capacity in the Leicester area, they are working on a business case for a suite of interventions which could deliver the enhancements required in the area. Quadruple-tracking is one of the options that Network Rail is considering. Network Rail is producing a Strategic Outline Business Case for the first part of the scheme which we expect to receive by Summer 2021.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to work with airlines to provide refunds for customers who have been forced to cancel holidays as a result of local covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The department is in regular contact with industry and has encouraged businesses to act fairly during this unprecedented event. Whether a consumer is entitled to a refund will depend on the terms and conditions of the contract in place. Consumers are encouraged to first contact travel providers or accommodation providers for reimbursement. In the next instance, credit card providers may be able to provide a refund under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 if the payment was made by credit card.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the average number of passengers on public service bus routes in (a) the East Midlands, (b) Leicester and (c) Leicester East constituency.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Department does not hold data on the average number of passengers per route at regional or parliamentary constituency level.
The average bus occupancy on local bus services was 12.5 in England in 2018/19, an increase from 12.2 in 2017/18 and 11.7 in 2009/10.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve public transport in Leicester.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Leicester is one of 12 city regions with the opportunity to bid for a share of £1.22 billion from the Transforming Cities Fund. The Fund is designed to improve public and sustainable transport links.
The bus market outside London is deregulated and decisions regarding service provision is primarily a commercial matter for bus operators. Decisions on subsidised bus services are a matter for individual English local authorities, in the light of their other spending priorities.
The Bus Services Act 2017 introduced new powers for local authorities and operators to work together to grow bus passenger numbers.
The £220 million Better Deal for Bus Users package provides new funding to transform bus services and includes a National Bus Strategy, which together will detail measures to improve bus services. This includes an extra £30 million for local authorities in 2020/21. If Leicester City Council complete statements of intent demonstrating how they will meet the funding requirements, it will be provided with the additional allocation of £83,550. This is on top of the £100,287 received in 2018/19 from the annual Bus Service Operators Grant.
There is £5billion of new funding to overhaul bus and cycle links outside London. This investment will boost bus services by including: higher frequency services, new priority schemes will make routes more efficient, more affordable simpler fares and at least 4,000 new Zero Emission Buses.
For rail, the new operator of East Midlands Railway, Abellio, is bringing a package of more than £600 million investment in improvements to rail services across their area. This will include an investment of £20 million on stations, including a larger scheme at Leicester, and replacement of the entire train fleet with more than 340 carriages.