Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of investing in rail infrastructure on the West Midlands Network to increase capacity on services to and from Telford; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Capacity to and from Telford will be increased through the introduction of a second off-peak service on the Wolverhampton corridor from 2018.
The West Midlands franchise, which began in December 2017, will also increase capacity through the introduction of a Sunday service between Birmingham and Shrewsbury from December 2018, and a second train per hour introduced in May 2021 will further increase capacity.
No infrastructure enhancements is needed to deliver this increase in capacity.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings his Department has had with representatives of the RMT and TSSA on strike action on Virgin Trains West Coast services scheduled for December 2017 and January 2018.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Department for Transport has not met with trade union officials to discuss strike action on Virgin Trains West Coast services in respect of services in December 2017 and January 2018. This dispute is between the unions and the train operator, however the Government has been doing all it can to ensure passenger disruption is minimised.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will discuss with Highways England the effect on traffic flow of the traffic lights at junctions (a) 4, (b) 5 and (c) 6 of the M54.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The traffic lights at junctions 4, 5 and 6 on the M54 do not affect the flow of traffic on the M54 itself and are not the responsibility of Highways England. The surrounding roads at all three of these junctions are managed and maintained by Telford and Wrekin Council. They will be best placed to advise on the effects these lights have on traffic flows on the surrounding roads.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to reduce the number of traffic lights at roundabouts in Telford.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Provision of traffic lights is the responsibility of the local traffic authority, in this case Telford and Wrekin Council. It is for them to decide if lights are required at junctions on their network, taking into account local circumstances such as accident records, traffic flows and road layout. The Department does not intervene in local matters such as this.
The Department recommends local authorities regularly review sites to ensure the use of signal control is still appropriate, revising timings as needed and removing signals where possible.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to provide funding for local bus routes which provide an important service but are not commercially viable.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Local authorities in England spend over £315m a year supporting socially necessary bus services. In addition, the Department for Transport provides around £40m of Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) funding directly to authorities to help deliver bus services. This central funding has been ring-fenced until 2016-17.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure the electrification of the train line between Wolverhampton and Telford.
Answered by Claire Perry
The line between Wolverhampton and Telford is not currently funded for electrification. We are awaiting the publication by Network Rail of its Electrification Route Utilisation Strategy, which has looked at this route, among others, as candidates to be electrified. The Government expects to publish its next Rail Investment Strategy for 2019-2024 in July 2017.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to improve the frequency and speed of rail services between Telford and Birmingham.
Answered by Claire Perry
Services between Telford and Birmingham are supplied by more than one operator; London Midland and Arriva Trains Wales. Their Franchise Agreements state the minimum service provision of the train operator to protect service provision for passengers. This sees both providing hourly services Monday to Friday and where reasonable, these shall be timed with the other operator to promote a half hourly service.
Whilst the train operators cannot run fewer services than are stipulated (nor simply remove a station stop or two as this could mean that the minimum specifications for those removed station stops are not met), if the train operators believe that the demand exists for additional services (which may have quicker journey times) and they have the rolling stock, staff availability and they can obtain the required track access rights, there is nothing to stop them from running more frequent services. My Hon Friend, may wish to contact the operators to explore what options may be available to achieve quicker journeys in the short-term*.
Local Councils can also help specify and fund transport solutions if they decide that this is the best way to meet local transport needs. In doing so, they would discuss the feasibility of the scheme with Network Rail and the train operator(s). If the scheme is feasible and represents value for money, the Council would need to be prepared to fund the cost from sources which are available for transport investment.
The Department is aware of stakeholder aspirations for improvements in and to the service provision between Telford and Birmingham. As part of the competition for the new long term franchises for this route, public consultations will be opened to help inform the specification for those franchises.
*Arriva Trains Wales contact email:customer.relations@arrivatrainswales.co.uk; London Midland contact email: http://www.londonmidland.com/contact/contact-us/contact-form/