Rail Timetabling

Debate between Jonathan Reynolds and Lord Grayling

Monday 4th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

The hon. Lady and I are meeting later, so I will happily talk through that with her.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

Northern’s new emergency timetable takes 165 services out of the timetable. It has been running for the first day today. A further 40 trains have been cancelled and punctuality is running at under 50%. Those figures were correct as I came into the Chamber at 5 o’clock, so they do not include the evening peak. The one question the Secretary of State has not answered so far is this: who in the Department for Transport gave approval for this timetable change to go ahead?

[Chris Grayling]

Timetable changes are not approved by the Department for Transport. These are matters for the different parts of the rail industry; they are the ones who take those decisions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jonathan Reynolds and Lord Grayling

Thursday 18th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I want to see both. We have just announced the biggest investment programme in our railways—over the period 2019 to 2024—since the steam age, including £20 billion of renewals. That is crucial: one of the reasons why we talk at Question Time about train delays is that the infrastructure in many places desperately needs renewal, which is why we are spending £20 billion on that. It is also important that we bring in additional private finance alongside that public investment, and I have been discussing extensively with Network Rail how we can make that happen.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

The private sector can only bring in investment if it knows what the Government’s plans for infrastructure are going to be. Will the Secretary of State tell me now what the latest Government position is on the electrification of the trans-Pennine line?