Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian Mearns and Lord McLoughlin

Thursday 7th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I well understand the concerns raised by my hon. Friend. This is one of the problems when major work is done on the railways. As he may have heard earlier, I travelled in the cab of one of those trains on Monday to see some of the work that is already ongoing in preparation for the electrification of the whole line. There will be some disruption—that is unavoidable. Nottingham station was closed for five weeks over the summer, but the whole job was done on time and it actually came in £5 million below budget.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

T3. The Secretary of State will be aware that there has been significant disruption on the east coast main line because of infrastructure failure. I think we have now had three Mondays on which there has been significant disruption, and a fortnight ago 30,000 passengers were stranded, some for five or six hours, while repairs were carried out. The east coast main line was electrified on the cheap—many engineers tell us that, and there has been severe disruption. Can we do something about it, please?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point. It relates to what we are doing with HS2 to increase capacity in the longer term, although that is not the short-term answer he wants. I was disturbed to read the reports about the delays on the line, and I will talk to Network Rail to see if there is anything we can do.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian Mearns and Lord McLoughlin

Thursday 25th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

The east coast main line has returned £640 million to the public purse since 2009. Sadly, private ownership has failed the travelling public of the east coast franchise. What possible public benefit can be gained by another wasteful and expensive round of refranchising, when east coast is already where the vast majority of the public want it, in public ownership?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I point the hon. Gentleman to what was said by the last Labour Transport Secretary, the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) who now sits on the Opposition Front Bench. It is worth pointing out that National Express paid £185 million in 2007-08, £145 million in 2008-09 and £8 million in 2009-10, which is when the franchise ended. The way that the track excess charges were calculated was then changed, so direct comparisons are not valid.

Rail Franchising

Debate between Ian Mearns and Lord McLoughlin

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who follows this subject particularly closely, not just for his constituents but as a member of the Select Committee on Transport. I know that he sent me and my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department for Transport a fairly comprehensive letter, which I hope to respond to shortly, and I will see what can be done.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

This morning, a statement by the Secretary of State’s own company, Directly Operated Railways, on the east coast main line said:

“Since 2009, the East Coast business has been transformed. The Company has returned more than £640 million in cash to the taxpayer”.

That is not because of privatisation, but because the public sector bailed out the private sector. There is huge support for continued public ownership. The private sector has already let down the travelling public on this route twice. Why risk it again when we are returning so much money to the taxpayer?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I was simply referring to what was said by the Secretary of State in the previous Government. It was a short-term measure. By putting out the franchise to the private sector, there will be better services. That is what I am interested in. I am not particularly interested in who owns it. I am interested in getting better services to the hon. Gentleman’s constituents, who want to take advantage of them.

High Speed Rail

Debate between Ian Mearns and Lord McLoughlin

Monday 28th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

The hon. Gentleman makes a tempting offer. We are committed to the electrification of the midland mainline, which will have substantial benefits for Leicestershire. I would add that East Midlands airport was built by the three counties—Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire—and is situated at the north of Leicestershire, which the county at that time felt was beneficial to it. The Toton sidings are basically not far from the north end of the county, so I think they will have benefits for Leicestershire as well.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

Twenty years ago, I could travel from Newcastle to London in 2 hours and 38 minutes. In his announcement today, the Secretary of State said that in 20 years’ time we will be able to do it in 2 hours and 18 minutes. Does he think that 40 years is enough for 20 minutes, given the importance of connectivity for the economic regeneration of a place such as the north-east of England?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I imagine that I would need to check out the timetable that the hon. Gentleman has just alluded to, because it is not unknown for Opposition Members to look on the past through rose-tinted glasses. Part of the problem might be that more people are now using the railways so there are more stops, which means that his journey is perhaps taking a little longer than it used to. However, I am very much minded to ensure that his region, like every other region in the north of the country, can benefit from the proposals I have brought forward today.