Oral Answers to Questions
Josh Fenton-Glynn Excerpts(1 week, 2 days ago)
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Heidi Alexander
My hon. Friend is an assiduous and informed campaigner for improved rail services for his constituents. He will know that funding for the midlands rail hub includes funding for designs for reinstated island platforms at King’s Norton. Decisions still need to be taken on future investment, but I know that he will push for construction to start as soon as possible.
Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)
The Calder Valley line was listed as a top priority for improvements by Transport for the North’s electrification taskforce 10 years ago, back in 2015, yet my constituents are still waiting for those improvements. Will the Minister commit this Government to delivering the infrastructure for my constituents that the last Government could not?
Heidi Alexander
Network Rail is completing a strategic outline business case, covering electrification of the Calder Valley line. The business case will be considered in the context of the wider electrification strategy, so that we can determine how to deliver the best possible benefits across the region.
Rail Performance
Josh Fenton-Glynn Excerpts(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Louise Haigh
The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Northern and TransPennine Express serve my constituency as well, and some of the most deprived parts of the north of England. Performance has not been good enough. TransPennine in particular has seen insignificant improvements since it was brought into public ownership, but neither operator is where it needs to be. We are working closely with them as a priority through the operator of last resort, not only to drive efficiencies, but crucially to drive performance. I was struck when I met Network Rail and some of the managing directors of the worst-performing operating companies that they made it clear that the previous levels of performance had simply been tolerated and accepted as normal across the industry. They are under no doubt that under this Government, that level of performance will no longer be tolerated.
Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)
My constituents in Calder Valley are also sick of the performance of Northern Rail. In July, the Department for Transport issued a breach of notice to Northern Rail, because of its underperformance. Northern Rail’s chief operating officer said that performance was “not good enough”. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that she will prioritise getting Northern Rail back on track?
Louise Haigh
We can hear from the House how much of an impact the levels of service on Northern Rail are having. Andy Burnham texts me every Monday about the performance on Northern trains, so I can assure my hon. Friend that it is a priority.