Elliot Colburn
Main Page: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)Department Debates - View all Elliot Colburn's debates with the Leader of the House
Thursday 1st July 2021
(2 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2021 View all Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2021 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Rees-Mogg
I have great zeal for ridding this House of EVEL.
Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)
The Croydon bottleneck is a major rail junction for the Brighton main line, but also serves suburban London, such as Carshalton and Wallington. Congestion here is causing massive delays and also prevents more frequent rail services from being run to outer London, which the Croydon area remodelling scheme is designed to fix. Can we have a statement from the Department for Transport about Government support for this scheme so that we can deliver additional rail services to Carshalton and Wallington?
Mr Rees-Mogg
Improving track layouts, remodelling the Selhurst triangle and constructing new tracks and two new platforms at East Croydon station would remove the bottleneck, which causes delays and disruption, improving the punctuality and speed of services. As I understand it, Network Rail has consulted on proposals to unblock the Croydon bottleneck and progress is expected later this year. I understand the concern that this must be to my hon. Friend’s constituents as so many of them are likely to be dependent on this service.
Let me say how much I enjoyed visiting my hon. Friend’s constituency recently, going to the Sutton vaccination centre and meeting Wendy, who was the subject of a Commons mention. May I say how surprised I am that he has managed to find something in his constituency that is not the fault of an incompetent Lib Dem-run administration? I hope that next week he will try harder.