Railway Industry

Debate between Mike Weir and Julie Hilling

Tuesday 19th October 2010 Westminster Hall

[Mr Mike Weir (Angus) (SNP)]

I welcome this debate, and I congratulate the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Katy Clark) on securing it and on making a wide-ranging and knowledgeable speech about the railways, despite her inability to avoid a quick stab at the Scottish Government.

I want to concentrate on two areas that concern my constituency—the future of the east coast rail line and the plan for the high-speed rail network, both of which are vital to our economic future. The east coast line is vital to the north-east of Scotland because it provides the major cities of the north of England direct access to London and, importantly, to the cross-channel network through the Eurostar and Eurotunnel and, I hope, to Germany if the proposed connections to German cities come to pass. The line provides an important link for business and tourism and is a vital economic asset.

I have had serious concerns for some time about the future of services on the line, especially north of Edinburgh. I raised those concerns as far back as July 2009, and when the franchise went from National Express to East Coast. The line north of Edinburgh has long been a problem because it is not electrified, so it has been difficult to reduce journey times from Aberdeen to Edinburgh. When the previous Government committed themselves to purchase new dual electric-diesel trains to run the whole length of the line, there was considerable hope that that would lead to a reduction in journey times.

When the franchise was transferred, Lord Adonis, the then Secretary of State for Transport, assured me and others that there was no danger of cutting services north of Edinburgh. Unfortunately, shortly before the general election, he postponed the purchase of the new trains and left the decision until after the election. I thought at the time that that was an ominous sign, and so it has proved to be. The new Government have twice postponed the decision, more recently until the comprehensive spending review, which is due tomorrow. That has the ring of a death knell for the contract to purchase those trains.

I appreciate that the Minister will not tell us today, before the Chancellor’s announcement, what will happen, but I remain gloomy about the prospect for those trains. The matter is important, and I asked her a written question about the services north of Edinburgh. She replied:

“The current level of direct services between London and Aberdeen and Inverness will continue to be provided when the new East coast line timetable is introduced in May 2011.”

So far, so good, but unfortunately, she continued:

“The longer term future of direct services between London and Inverness and Aberdeen will be determined by forthcoming decisions on replacement of the current rolling stock.”—[Official Report, 16 September 2010; Vol. 515, c. 1244W.]

The Minister may say that I am wrong, but alarm bells rang because she seemed to be specifically linking the services to the rolling stock and, by implication at least, if the rolling stock is not purchased, long-term services are at risk. If I am correct, that is a short-sighted way of looking at the future of this important line because its importance is not only economic.

The coalition Government claim to be the greenest ever, but that seems to be a pretty shaky claim if they do not consider the need to reduce carbon emissions by providing more rail than air transport. Failure to provide regular services from the north-east of Scotland will seriously impact on that. I have used the line many times to travel down to London. I take the train from Montrose in my constituency, and it takes around six and a half hours to get to King’s Cross. From Aberdeen, the journey is around seven hours. Clearly, that is a long train journey, and business men coming from Aberdeen, which is Europe’s oil capital, are faced with the option of taking a plane from Aberdeen airport, which takes approximately one and a half hours to London. Even taking into account the time taken to check in and to get in from Heathrow, it is clearly quicker to go by air. However, even with the existing service, for someone travelling from Edinburgh the decision to travel by air or train is much more marginal.

The point is that if we are serious about moving travellers, particularly domestic business travellers, from air to rail, the issue that must be addressed is not just price, but time. We must ensure that there is a realistic alternative, and that can be provided only by speeding up journey times. I appreciate that the proposed new trains are not a magic bullet for the problem, and that the decrease in journey time provided by the trains alone might not be all that significant. The line has various other problems, not least the physical restraints at Montrose in my constituency, where part of the line is single track and the geography of the area makes it difficult for it to be dualled. However, the proposed dual fuel trains would send a clear signal that the Government are serious about investment in the railways, and in ensuring that we continue with the regular and worthwhile service that links Aberdeen directly with London and through to the continental mainland. Unless we look at such proposals, we will undoubtedly fail to persuade people to switch from air travel to rail, even if the Government use taxation to push up the price of flying.

[Julie Hilling]

I am interested in the hon. Gentleman’s point about trains and the green economy. Does he agree that electrification pushes all the buttons for the green economy? Electrification makes trains greener, it is better for the environment, it increases the speed of the train and reduces the wear on the track. We must continue with electrification, particularly in my constituency where the previous Government were committed to the electrification of the lines between Liverpool and Manchester, and Manchester and Preston. Electrification speeds up journeys; today, a person would be crazy to take an aeroplane from Manchester to London, although that option was frequently used in the past. Electrification is a key part of the argument.

[Mr Weir]

The hon. Lady makes a good point. Whether electrification is greener than its alternative depends on how the electricity is generated, but that is an associated issue. However, she is right that the faster train journeys can be made, the more likely it is that people will use the train rather than travel by air. That is my point. Flying to London from Manchester or Birmingham no longer makes sense, but it does make sense to travel from Aberdeen by air unless something is done to speed up the train line. I appreciate that that is not easy to do, but the Government must look at the issue seriously.

My other point is about the high-speed rail network. The Government have announced their proposal to go with the Y route, which would run up the centre of England to the north-east and the west coast. It will speed up journey times and, if I understand it correctly, link up with the east coast line and provide a slightly faster journey time at least as far as Edinburgh. As it stands, however, although the proposal will considerably speed up rail travel to the north of England, it does not address the central problem of taking the line further north into Scotland. If the Government are serious about the issue, we must look at an extension of the line to ensure faster travel times from Scotland and encourage people away from the longer domestic flight routes. Unless we do that—and the same argument goes for the east coast—we will not get the green benefits that we hope for. As it stands, if I were to use the high-speed line to get home, I would probably have to change train twice to get to Montrose, and that will not significantly reduce the journey time.