Flooding: Transport Disruption

Mary Creagh Excerpts

Thursday 13th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mary Creagh (Wakefield) (Lab)]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State if he will update the House on the transport disruption caused by the floods.

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

In the past two months, Britain has been hit by truly exceptional weather. This has been the wettest January in more than 200 years, and the severe weather is set to continue. From extra pumps and sandbags to military support and emergency funds, the Government are committed to providing all the practical support and assistance that is needed.

Overnight a severe storm, with winds recorded at more than 100 miles per hour, added further to disruption on the transport network, with the railway network particularly badly affected and some motorways closed owing to wind speeds. Network Rail and the Highways Agency have been working through the night to address the damage caused, clearing scores of trees from blocked lines, removing debris from carriageways and tracks, and repairing overhead wires. Let me take this opportunity to thank all those people for their dedication and hard work in the most trying circumstances, and express my sympathy with all those affected by bad weather.

As a result of the repair work overnight, I can provide the following updates for those parts of the transport network affected by the storm. On the rail network, the west coast main line is open, apart from the spur from Runcorn to Liverpool, which is expected to be back in service later this morning. Most of the east coast line is open. Continued work on overhead line damage north of York is placing limits on the service, and trains are expected to run at 80 miles an hour between Newcastle and the Scottish borders until midday. The Welsh routes of Fishguard and Aberystwyth are currently closed as engineers work to clear scores of downed trees.

On the roads, with a few isolated exceptions, we have kept motorways and major A roads running through this unprecedented level of severe weather. Although the hard work of engineers has mitigated the worst effects of the storm, there is no doubt that the transport network has taken a battering over the past week. In Dawlish work continues apace to mend the route between London and the south-west. During my visit on Friday I met south-west MPs and council and business leaders to assess the impact of the severe weather on the region’s transport network and economy. That followed a briefing with local south-west MPs in the House last Wednesday. The collapsed wall has been shored up with material salvaged from the damaged section, and a temporary breakwater made of shipping containers and filled with rubble has been erected off the coast. Removal of the damaged platform continues, and work is estimated to be completed by 18 March.

At Maidenhead the water table is currently 20 metres higher than it would normally be at this time of the year. That has damaged the signalling and had a serious effect on the ability of Network Rail to run trains, with roughly one fifth of services currently running between Reading and Paddington. Network Rail is working urgently to assess the time scale and to repair the signalling. The M2 in Kent is now partially reopened in both directions, with repairs ongoing to the hole in the central reservation.

While we deal with the immediate fall-out from the weather conditions, my Department has announced measures that I believe will make a real impact on the ground. Those include £61 million funding for projects to help repair damaged roads and build greater resilience into our railway network. Yesterday the Government announced funding worth £31 million to pay for rail resilience projects, which includes money to continue the vital work at Cowley bridge in Exeter to improve resilience against flooding. In addition, a further £30 million has been found for road maintenance, including pothole repairs, for local authorities in England affected by the severe weather. That is on top of the £3.5 million from the £7 million flood recovery package announced by the Government on 17 January.

Because we recognise the importance of tourism to the south-west during half-term week, we have worked with the airline Flybe to enable it to double its daily flights between Newquay and London Gatwick. It will increase the number of flights from three to six per weekday, providing more than 4,500 additional seats each week. Flybe has also agreed to keep prices at the same level as before the weather disruption, ensuring that hard-working families are not penalised by the impact of the weather on their travel plans. On Monday this week the Prime Minister also announced a Government subsidy to allow Newquay airport to waive the £5 airport development fee usually charged to those departing from the airport. Together, that package is helping to keep the south-west open for business during these difficult times.

In addition, First Great Western, the rail operator, has put in place a special ticketing arrangement so that rail passengers affected by the flood disruption do not miss out on the cheaper advance fares while revised timetables are in place. That means that passengers will receive a 25% discount on walk-up fares for journeys that cross the Dawlish gap. First Great Western has also ordered hundreds of extra buses to provide alternative transport while the track is repaired.

Although the conditions are unprecedented, particularly because of their severity and sustained nature, it is important that we ensure that our network is resilient in the long term to such threats. The Department for Transport works very closely on resilience with other Government Departments, local authorities, other transport operators and the wider sector. Resilience to extreme weather and climate change also form part of our capital maintenance programme. The Government have asked the industry to build climate resilience into its plans for railway investment for the period between 2014 and 2019. The industry has responded by introducing more specialised equipment and trains that treat rails, and that clear ice and snow or compacted leaves.

We have embarked on one of the biggest programmes of rail modernisation ever. Over the next five years, more than £38 billion will be spent to improve and maintain our railways. Network Rail is developing strategies for securing the long-term resilience of the railways and has asked the Office of the Rail Regulator for nearly £500 million to invest in resilience projects.

On the roads, the Highways Agency has assessed the potential risks that climate change poses to the ongoing operation and improvements to the strategic road network. It has taken action to mitigate and is spending a huge amount a year on maintenance and renewal. Funding for local roads maintenance has increased by £650 million in this Parliament. That figure will increase by a further £500 million to £4.9 billion between 2015 and 2020.

As the Prime Minister said yesterday, we are in for a long haul. I will continue to keep the House updated, but I should at this stage pay tribute, as every Member of the House would like to do, to all those tens of thousands of people who are at the moment doing their upmost to provide services, sometimes in very dangerous conditions. They are trying to do their very best for the travelling public, and we owe them a great debt of gratitude.

[Mary Creagh]

I thank the Secretary of State for his reply. Our sympathy goes out to the families and friends of the three people who have tragically lost their lives in the flooding and storms. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by the flooding.

I echo the Secretary of State’s tribute to the emergency and armed services, council workers, Network Rail, the Highways Agency, the Environment Agency and power company staff who have worked round the clock in very difficult conditions to keep people safe and to restore services.

The Secretary of State mentioned the severe weather in the past week that has caused huge disruption. Rail services on Southern trains, Southeastern trains, South West Trains, First Great Western and Virgin have all been seriously affected, and there is major disruption on the motorway, with the closure of the M2 and regional disruption overnight as trees were brought down by high winds.

The Secretary of State said that First Great Western has suspended its advance ticket scheme on the Dawlish route. Passengers must now pay for expensive walk-on tickets rather than take advantage of lower advance fares. Although the 25% reduction in those walk-on fares is welcome, some passengers must still pay more than £100 to travel from Paddington to Cornwall on rail replacement buses. Does he believe that is fair?

The Tunbridge Wells to Hastings line is shut as a result of landslips and will take several weeks to repair. One route to Exeter is closed with three quarters of a mile of track under water. The Windsor branch line is blocked at Datchet. In Wales, the Cambrian coast rail line has been damaged between Barmouth and Pwllheli—it was damaged in January but will not reopen until mid-May. Network Rail estimates that the cost of repairing that damage will be up to £30 million. What talks has the Secretary of State held with train companies to support passengers who have experienced substantial financial loss as a result of the travel disruption? The damage at Dawlish and Pwllheli alone will cost Network Rail £40 million to repair and Network Rail’s initial estimate of the repair and business interruption costs from flooding over the past two months is now £118 million. How much money has he asked the Treasury for to carry out those vital repairs?

In 2012, an 11-day closure of the Great Western railway line to Exeter caused by flooding was estimated by Cornwall council to have cost the regional economy £140 million. In January last year, the Prime Minister said that

“we will do everything we can to ensure that these important services are maintained, even when they are challenged by floods”.—[Official Report, 16 January 2013; Vol. 556, c. 870.]

Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced that £61 million was being made available by the Department for Transport to finance the repair and rebuilding of transport infrastructure, yet it transpires that £31 million of that money was what he promised to the south-west authorities and MPs last year for resilience repairs around Exeter. Network Rail has spent £5 million on small repair schemes, but the bulk of that £26 million from the Government, promised by the Prime Minister last January, has never been received. Why not? Why did that money failed to materialise in the autumn statement? Did he just forget?

Of the Prime Minister’s £61 million announcement yesterday, it transpires that the £30 million for council road repairs was actually announced on Monday by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday was a rehash of old announcements and included not one penny of new money for the urgent rail repairs that are needed across the network? Will any additional money be made available to Network Rail for repairs to damaged transport infrastructure? Will any additional money be provided to improve transport infrastructure flood resilience?

The Government need to speak with one voice and their response needs to be speedier than it has been in the recent past. The Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change has warned that flooding is the greatest risk our country faces from climate change. The Prime Minister has said that “money is no object” and the Secretary of State has said that there is no blank cheque. Who is right? Communities and commuters face long weeks, potentially months, of transport disruption. They need leadership and clarity on what help they can expect and when. When will they get it?

[Mr McLoughlin]

In my answer, I tried to be open with the House on all the problems being faced by passengers and our constituents across the country. I do not think it helps when the Opposition try to suggest that money is not available. When I was here last Thursday, I was the one speaking up for all the passengers who were being inconvenienced by strikes that the Opposition were deliberately incredibly quiet about. I need no lectures on speaking up for passengers and the people who use our public services.

As far as money and investment is concerned, the simple fact is this: as the Prime Minister has made absolutely clear, there is no limit to the amount of money that the Government are providing for immediate flood relief. We will do everything we can to help those people who are very badly affected and will be affected for months to come. That is a commitment from the whole of the Government: the Government certainly speak with one voice on this subject.

I also point out very clearly that, between 2014 and 2019 in the next round of investment in the railways cleared by this Government, we will see record sums invested in our railways. Indeed, as part of the investment programme, a tunnel that is very important for the south-west, has just been relined. A lot of the money we are talking about—the £850 million being spent on Reading station—is all about improving resilience in the long term. A lot of the money being spent by Network Rail over the next five years—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Blackpool South (Mr Marsden), like a parrot, keeps saying, “It’s not new money.” The simple point is that it is new money. It is the £38 billion that we are going to invest in Network Rail over the next five years. It is important, too, and represents a record level of investment—a level of investment never reached by the previous Government when there was plenty of money available. When the buckets were overflowing, they did not invest in our infrastructure; we are investing in it, rebuilding the British railways, and the roads as well.