Telford Rail Services

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Monday 19th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[David Wright (Telford) (Lab)]

I welcome this opportunity to raise issues relating to Telford rail services. May I begin by asking you, Mr Deputy Speaker, to pass on my thanks to Mr Speaker, who visited Telford on Friday? I am sure that you will pass on my regards to him. He visited a couple of local schools and did a parliamentary event, which I believe went very well indeed.

I will cover three big issues this evening. The first is the lack of a direct link from Telford to London. That issue is embroiled in what can only be described as the fiasco of the west coast franchise process. The second is the need for speedy and regular services at a reasonable price into the west midlands conurbation and across to Shrewsbury, with improved availability of seats. The third is the ongoing improvements to station infrastructure and the current investment at Telford Central station.

[Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate, and especially on his second point about the link between Telford and the rest of the conurbation. Does he agree that that is especially important because it would allow his constituents to visit Dudley, which is, as he would concede, the birthplace of the industrial revolution, and the truly world-class Black Country living museum?

[David Wright]

It would give my constituents that opportunity, although, of course, we have the birthplace of industry in Telford. I will touch on that a bit later, because the Ironbridge gorge is designated as a world heritage site. Dudley does not have a world heritage site, as I keep telling my hon. Friend, but he does not seem to want to accept the views of the United Nations and UNESCO.

Telford sits on the railway line that runs from Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury. We have strong connections to the west midlands conurbation, due to our new town history. In fairness to my hon. Friend, many people moved out of the west midlands conurbation, from areas such as Dudley, to Telford when it became a new town and we welcomed them. There is a significant flow of local passenger traffic, including commuters and leisure users, into Wolverhampton and the local stations through to Birmingham New Street. On a serious note, rapid access to Birmingham New Street is crucial to the local economy, as is rapid access to Birmingham International, with its links to the regional airport. If High Speed 2 does come about—I certainly hope that it does, as it is a significant infrastructure project—connectivity with the west midlands conurbation will be increasingly important for commuters and business users in the Telford area.

At present, the local services are run by Arriva Trains Wales and London Midland. A service from Telford Central runs about every 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the time of day. Those services run to Shrewsbury and across into the conurbation. I will return to the local service issues a little later. First, I will spend some time talking about the lack of a direct rail service to London from Telford, and indeed from Shropshire and mid-Wales.

Direct services to and from the capital have a chequered history in our area. The line from Wolverhampton is not electrified, which has been a problem historically. With the advent of faster, more efficient diesel units, that is not such a problem now. In the past, services to and from London had to stop at Wolverhampton, where a diesel unit was attached or removed. The regular London service ceased in the early 1990s, with a brief return and cancellation later in the 1990s. The old service ran to and from Euston up to Shrewsbury, calling at Telford Central and Wellington, which is in the Wrekin constituency. At that time, the diesel change, which I have mentioned, caused a time delay and platform blockages at Wolverhampton. It is no surprise, therefore, that the service was cancelled. However, I am assured that due to the efficiency of the new diesel units—the Voyager-type trains—our services could be integrated into the wider timetable and into the electric routes, so that there are direct services to London.

After the abandonment of the service, there was an attempt to run an open-access service by the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone railway. The Minister will be aware of that. Local MPs fought hard to get that service in the teeth of opposition from other rail companies, which tried consistently to block access to the lines. The service picked up passengers at Telford Central and was recognised as one of the best in the country for the passenger experience. The problem was that the length of the journey into Marylebone and the unsustainably low ticket price meant that it made a significant loss. The last service ran in January 2011. The service folded with the loss of more than 50 jobs.

Following that, colleagues from constituencies across Shropshire and mid-Wales and I lobbied hard for the inclusion of a direct service as part of the west coast franchise. We met all the main potential bidders, along with the former Secretary of State and the former rail Minister. We managed to get the main bidders to include services to Telford and Shropshire in their proposals, but now we are in limbo because of the £40 million debacle surrounding the west coast franchise.

The Secretary of State has told us that, when the current franchise ends on 9 December, services will continue for up to 14 months with Virgin, and then a competition will be run for an interim agreement—that is what he called it. That means that a short contract could follow the interim service from Virgin—we do not know for how long it will be. That could leave us without a direct service to and from Telford for several years, and possibly with a complete lack of service. That is frankly a mess, and companies are unlikely to invest in rolling stock to deliver a service to Telford, Shropshire and mid-Wales unless the Government give a clear commitment to include a service to our areas as part of a shortened contract or a future longer-term franchise.

That is extremely frustrating for commuters, businesses and local leisure service providers. We want to expand rail use and further promote Telford as an attractive location for business investment. As my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) knows, we have a world heritage site in the Ironbridge gorge and numerous major tourist attractions across our area. We want increased visitor numbers. It is about making Telford a place that people want to visit and locate their businesses in, our getting to London more efficiently and, crucially, getting people from London to Telford and the midlands. It is not all one way—down to London; it is also about getting people out into the midlands from London to invest.

Will the Minister clarify exactly what is happening? Will he give the House an assurance that a direct service to Telford is a priority for him and the Department? Will he confirm a timetable—excuse the pun—for the arrival of services at the Telford platforms?

The second theme that I want to pursue is the provision of local services, which I mentioned briefly earlier. There has been a major increase in the use of local services. A fast, reliable, comfortable and reasonably priced local service is the central concern of most rail users from Telford. The Passenger Focus national passenger survey in 2011—the results of the 2012 survey will be out next January—shows broadly high satisfaction with local service providers. However, if we drill down further into local issues, hard evidence shows problems of overcrowding and the inability to get a seat, service delays and concerns about the cost of travel.

In the current readers’ survey in the Shropshire Star, most people who had a view said that the train service was satisfactory or good, but nearly 20% said that it was poor or very poor. That is not good enough. There is overall satisfaction with the main providers, but there are problems with the service locally. That is not new. I do not suggest that the difficulty started two and a half years ago. It is a long-term problem, which we must tackle. One constituent who spoke to me today after reading that I was holding the debate said that his recent experience as a leisure traveller on the service was poor and that, as a pensioner, he did not want to stand from Birmingham to Telford. He also said that that discouraged him from using the service in future. That is sad—people not wanting to use the service because they are not comfortable using it.

The general view is that we can do better. We clearly need to increase capacity at peak times and I would welcome the Minister’s thoughts. We want a regular service with trains that turn up on time, and people want a seat. It is not rocket science, but simple stuff, and we need to get it right.

My third point is about station infrastructure. There is some positive news. Telford central station is undergoing improvements. That involves providing better facilities in and around the main building, along with improvements to platform shelters. That is good news, which is really welcome. The station was looking pretty tired. It is not old—it is quite new—but it was looking tired because of its construction type. I welcome the investment.

There has also been better integration of bus and rail services. For example, the area outside the station is being used as a coach pick-up point following lobbying by me, local resident Ricky Jones and the senior citizens forum, which keeps me on my toes.

In closing, I make a plea for the retention of services at smaller stations. My constituency has a small station at Oakengates. I grew up in St Georges and Oakengates, and I am fond of that station, which gets a regular service and is not under threat. However, I want to flag up that alongside major services and infrastructure debates, little gems such as Oakengates station provide a valuable service to local people. I hope we can keep it that way.

I look forward to the Minister’s reply. If we were in American politics we would be in the same party, being fundamentally supporters of the Democratic party. I know he is a big fan of Hillary Clinton—as am I—and I hope he will demonstrate tonight that he is also a big fan of Telford.