Oral Answers to Questions

Fiona Bruce Excerpts

Thursday 14th February 2019 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

1. What progress he has made on the (a) removal of old and (b) delivery and deployment of new rolling stock.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Andrew Jones)]

With permission, I will answer this question together with Question 16.

A total of 7,800 new carriages have been ordered since 2010. More than 3,000 have been delivered, with more than 4,700 due by the end of 2022. Those trains will help to transform the passenger experience, offering greater capacity, more pleasant carriages, air-conditioning, and wi-fi, and they will enable operators to remove old and unpopular rolling stock from service.

[Fiona Bruce]

Middlewich is a growing town, with jobs being created and a positive future. The people of Middlewich appreciate the Government’s recognition of that, with almost £50 million of funding being provided for a new bypass, but their aspiration does not stop there, and rail connectivity is poor. What support can the Government give on that?

[Andrew Jones]

My hon. Friend has campaigned continually over many years for the reopening of Middlewich railway station, and I know that she has very strong support within the town for this. I know as well that it is a top priority now that the Middlewich bypass has been delivered. We welcome the work being undertaken by the Cheshire and Warrington local economic partnership, including the proposals to reopen the freight line through Middlewich, in Cheshire, for passenger services and to reopen Middlewich station. Findings are due at the end of this month, and I look forward to hearing the recommendations from that work.