Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lincoln Jopp and Heidi Alexander

Thursday 15th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

The 7.58 am train from Sunbury to Shepperton is used by a lot of schoolchildren in my constituency to get to school, but it was cancelled for four days during a recent six-day period, which meant that children were late for school. That appears on their attendance register, which follows them throughout life. The Secretary of State will own South Western Railway by the end of the month. Will she commit to improving the reliability and punctuality of that section of the line?

[Heidi Alexander]

With the transfer of South Western trains into public ownership in 10 days’ time, the Government are determined to turn this situation around, but I have to say that we have inherited an abject mess from the train operating company, which over six years has failed to get the new fleet of Arterio 701 trains into service.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lincoln Jopp and Heidi Alexander

Thursday 9th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

Yes, I think I will have a busy diary coming up.

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

We have an anomalous situation in Spelthorne whereby someone can get six London red buses on an Oyster card, but they cannot get the train out to the stations at the end of the line. Major employers, such as BP and Shepperton Studios, are sending buses up the line to bring down those people who cannot use an Oyster card. As the Secretary of State will own South Western Railway and is brilliant with Transport for London, could she please get Spelthorne into the Oyster zone?

[Heidi Alexander]

We are exploring how we can extend pay-as-you-go to other stations in the south-east. I must admit that my mental map is not good enough to identify every station yet, but we share that ambition to make it easier for people to use the railways across the south-east region.