Oral Answers to Questions

Linda Riordan Excerpts

Thursday 6th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Linda Riordan (Halifax) (Lab/Co-op)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Patrick McLoughlin)]

I am sure the whole House will want to join me in expressing sympathy for those who have been affected by the extreme weather conditions. An urgent priority is the railway at Dawlish. Colleagues will have seen the images of the devastating impact the weather has had on the railway there. I met members of all parties of Devon and Cornwall yesterday evening alongside Network Rail. The immediate priority is to assess the damage and develop a plan for getting the line back into service as soon as possible, but I am acutely conscious of the need to develop a long-term solution for the resilience of the railway network in the south-west and I have asked for a report to me on the options for addressing this problem.

[Mrs Riordan]

The Calder valley line was recently excluded from the list of northern lines to be electrified. Will the Secretary of State look again at this and back my and the Halifax Courier’s campaign to get this line electrified as soon as possible?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I met an all-party group on rail electrification a few weeks ago and discussed the matters that the hon. Lady has just relayed. I fully accept that there is a lot of pressure on us to extend electrification. I am proud that we have set a target for Network Rail of 850 miles in the next control period. I am certain that other cases will be made. Let me stress to her that our target of 850 miles is 841 miles more than the previous Government achieved in 13 years.