Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what is the percentage seat utilisation per mile on London and North Eastern Railway services to (a) York, (b) Leeds and (c) Newcastle.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
LNER services have a high rate of seat utilisation which is comparable to or better than other inter-city long distance franchised operators. However, seat utilisation varies throughout the day as LNER make effective use of track capacity by running longer trains which delivers more capacity during the peaks, which can lead to excess capacity on return legs where demand may be lower. Timetable obligations and fixed train sets means that there is sufficient capacity to meet demand, though is not possible to alter capacity in these quieter times to improve seat utilisation rates on these services.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress Network Rail has made on the cost reviews taking place to deliver power supply improvements on the (a) West and (b) East Coast Main Line.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is currently reviewing the position it has inherited on rail infrastructure and will consider how we address power supply issues. We will set out our plans in due course.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential role of newly approved open access services in supporting British train (a) manufacturing, (b) assembly and (c) supply chains.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Privately owned and run open access operators can play a significant role in supporting UK train manufacturers, assemblers and their UK supply chains and are an important source of potential orders, both for new and cascaded rolling stock. It remains a matter for each operator to decide when and how to source its own rolling stock.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what is the forecast subsidy to support London and North Eastern Railway in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
LNER’s subsidy forecasts for 2024/25 and 2025/26 are commercially sensitive. Details of LNER’s accounts from previous years can be found in the published statutory accounts.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help mitigate the impact of industrial action in December 2022 on the rail freight sector in transporting commodities over the Christmas period.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Government continues to work closely with Network Rail (NR) and Freight Operating Companies (FOCs) to ensure as much freight as possible is able to continue to move throughout the industrial action planned over the Christmas period. We are ensuring that critical freight flows are prioritised and we continue to monitor the impacts on specific sectors, through our engagement with other Government Departments.
During periods of industrial action, approximately 20% of rail freight services operate on strike days, returning to around 70% on the day after a strike.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to maximise opportunities for growing rail freight.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government remains committed to growing rail freight and unlocking the economic and environmental benefits rail freight can deliver.
Between 2014-2019, the Government invested over £235m in the Strategic Freight Network (SFN) and further investments are being confirmed and announced through the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP).
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Policy Exchange report entitled Charging up, published on 2 February 2021, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the number of electric vehicle charging points needed to meet demand across the UK are installed by 2030.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK has been a global front-runner in supporting provision of charging infrastructure along with private sector investment. Our vision is to have one of the best infrastructure networks in the world for electric vehicles (EVs), and we want chargepoints to be accessible, affordable and secure. The number of public chargepoints available has increased by 33% in the past 12 months from October 2020 to October 2021.
We will invest over £1.3 billion in accelerating the roll out of charging infrastructure over the next four years, targeting support on rapid chargepoints on motorways and major roads, and installing more on-street chargepoints near homes and workplaces to make charging as easy as refuelling a petrol or diesel car. Our grant schemes and the £400m Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund will see thousands more electric vehicle charge-points installed across the UK.
Government’s forthcoming EV Infrastructure Strategy will define our vision for the continued roll-out of a world-leading charging infrastructure network across the UK. The strategy will focus on how we will unlock the chargepoint rollout needed to enable the transition from early adoption to mass market uptake of EVs. We will set out our next steps to address barriers to private investment and level up charge point provision. The strategy will clearly establish Government’s expectations for the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the planning and deployment of charging infrastructure.
Alongside the Strategy, to increase confidence in the charging network and reduce range anxiety the Government is working with industry to simplify payment, ensure reliability and make chargepoint data freely available, helping drivers easily locate and access available chargepoints. In Spring 2021 we consulted on measures to improve the consumer experience of public charging and we will publish our response this winter and are seeking to lay legislation in the new year.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 24 of the Net Zero Strategy, what his Department's implementation timeline is for the zero emissions vehicle mandate; and what the next steps his Department plans to take are in respect of the zero emissions vehicle mandate.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
As referenced in the Net Zero Strategy, the Government has committed to introducing a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate, setting targets for a percentage of manufacturers’ new car and van sales to be zero emission each year, from 2024.
The Government is currently analysing responses to the consultation, and will publish a full Government response in due course.
Following publication of the Government’s response to the consultation, we will work to bring forward specific proposals. The first of these will most likely be in Spring 2022, with regulatory proposals for cars and vans.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
suggested redraft: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect on the viability of rail freight of a 25 per cent reduction in (a) mode shift revenue support and (b) waterborne freight grant.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Government provides grants worth £15.6m per year to support rail and water freight services which deliver environmental and economic benefits over road transport, but whose operating costs are higher. This level is net of a significant efficiency saving implemented since 2015.
Rail flows of intermodal freight continue to be healthy and the grants deliver high value for money. A research project is underway to inform decisions about future funding and operation of the grants and will consider stakeholder feedback.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to reform the rail ticketing and settlement agreement to enable a more (a) transparent, (b) innovative and (c) simpler fares and ticketing system.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA) is maintained and managed by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) on behalf of the train operators. It is for the industry to propose changes to the TSA, and for Secretary of State to approve those changes where he is required to do so. The RDG has submitted to the Williams Rail Review its proposals for reform of the fares system, including reform of the TSA, and we are ready to work with the industry to consider how its proposals might work and be tested in the real world.