Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Heidi Alexander and Tessa Munt

Thursday 27th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

20. What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of passenger rail performance.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Heidi Alexander)]

We are starting to see train performance stabilise following a decade of decline, and cancellations are no longer rising. We have ended the national industrial dispute, bringing passenger confidence back with a 7% increase in passenger journeys. Furthermore, we have made station-specific performance information available for the first time, as a visible sign that we are determined to improve standards.

--- Later in debate ---

[Heidi Alexander]

I am sorry to say that the previous Government recklessly over-promised on rail infrastructure projects, misleading passengers who have struggled for far too long to access the services that they deserve. In fact, I would go as far as saying that Conservative Ministers travelled around the country promising rail users the moon on a stick, paid for with fantasy money. I will gladly meet my hon. Friend to discuss the Croydon area modelling scheme.

[Tessa Munt]

The Secretary of State will know about the planned engineering works between Didcot Parkway and Swindon and in the Paddington area, which will cause significant disruption between London and Bristol and in south Wales this Sunday and next Sunday. Disruption on major routes causes massive chaos on the rural routes that are accessed via Bristol and further to the south-west. Then there is the closure of the M4 between Bath and Bristol, which means that there will be no buses between Swindon and Bristol on those days. The alerts about longer and busier journeys and train cancellations and delays advise us to travel the day before or the day after. That does not seem adequate. Will the Secretary of State please pull the rail, bus and road bodies together to avoid clashes such as this, particularly when we face six years of further disruption as a result of High Speed 2 works, which will not benefit the south-west in the slightest?