Rail Franchising

Debate between Martin Vickers and Lloyd Russell-Moyle

Wednesday 10th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Martin Vickers]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Hull Trains and Grand Central both get very high satisfaction ratings.

The House should take note of last year’s Transport Committee report on rail franchising. It states:

“Open access has been a success, albeit on a limited scale to date. The balance of evidence points to potential benefits in open access having an expanded role on long distance routes.”

It goes on to state:

“Reforms are needed if open access is to be expanded on the network. We recommend that the Department and the ORR work together, as they develop the financial framework for the railways over Control Period 6”.

I hope that the new Minister will make it one of his priorities to look more closely into introducing open access operations on to the railway, in order to provide genuine competition and to improve services, particularly on those routes that are struggling at the moment.

[Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Brighton, Kemptown) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Martin Vickers]

I will not take any more interventions; it would be unfair to others.

Reference has been made to fare increases. It is a fair point that there has to be a balance involving what the taxpayer is prepared to put into the network. I gather that the net contribution from the taxpayer for the last financial year was £4.2 billion. That is not an insignificant amount. While mentioning fares, may I be critical of the rail operators? Tickets are often not checked, and barriers at stations often do not operate. That is something that urgently needs to be looked at.