Flooding: Transport Disruption Debate
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Kerry McCarthy
Main Page: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)Department Debates - View all Kerry McCarthy's debates with the Department for Transport
Flooding: Transport Disruption
Kerry McCarthy Excerpts(10 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Mr McLoughlin
As I said, north of Rugby, a huge amount of money has been invested on the west coast main line. There is still more work to be done; for example, there is more work to be done on signalling, which will be happening this year as far as Watford is concerned. That will have an impact, providing better resilience overall to the services to which my hon. Friend refers. As he rightly says, that line is one of the busiest railway lines anywhere in Europe.
Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)
Not only do rail users in Bristol have to contend with the usual overpriced, overcrowded trains, but they are now being hit by disruption in both directions; it is affecting train services from Bristol to the west country and the Reading to Paddington section of the Great Western line. What support is available for rail users in Bristol? What compensation will be available for them?
Mr McLoughlin
I understand what the hon. Lady says. As I said just before this statement, I have had a meeting with all the coach operators, and they have agreed to put on extra services. Those services are available and a lot more are being laid on. They are seeing a rise in patronage, and their prices are very competitive indeed.