Asked by: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support Thameslink Railways in its management of capacity on trains between Bedford and St Pancras as a result of East Midland trains not stopping at (a) Luton and (b) Bedford from May 2018.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As a result of East Midlands Trains being unable to stop at Bedford or Luton at peak times, the Department expects approximately 1500 passengers from Bedford and 500 passengers from Luton to transfer to Thameslink services to London each day, from May 2018. However, passengers on this route will benefit from capacity improvements as a result of the Thameslink Programme which mean that GTR will provide around 2000 additional seats from Bedford and nearly 3000 extra seats from Luton, off-setting the extra demand.
In order to continue to provide some faster services between Bedford, Luton and London, GTR will remove some intermediate stops from a total of 4 trains in the morning and 6 trains in the evening. However, the improvements to capacity across the peak periods mean that GTR will still be able to provide more seats at intermediate stations than it does today.
Asked by: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department made of the effect on capacity of the Thameslink line between Bedford and St Pancras of East Midland line trains not stopping at (a) Bedford and (b) Luton from May 2018.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As a result of East Midlands Trains being unable to stop at Bedford or Luton at peak times, the Department expects approximately 1500 passengers from Bedford and 500 passengers from Luton to transfer to Thameslink services to London each day, from May 2018. However, passengers on this route will benefit from capacity improvements as a result of the Thameslink Programme which mean that GTR will provide around 2000 additional seats from Bedford and nearly 3000 extra seats from Luton, off-setting the extra demand.
In order to continue to provide some faster services between Bedford, Luton and London, GTR will remove some intermediate stops from a total of 4 trains in the morning and 6 trains in the evening. However, the improvements to capacity across the peak periods mean that GTR will still be able to provide more seats at intermediate stations than it does today.
Asked by: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level overcrowding on Thameslink trains between Bedford and St Pancras during peak times.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes statistical information on levels of overcrowding on an annual basis. These statistics represent overcrowding levels during a typical autumn weekday peak and are available by train operator for central London stations and major cities in England and Wales.
The table below shows the average passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) for Thameslink services arriving and departing St. Pancras International in autumn 2016, the latest period for which data are available.
Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) for Thameslink services at St. Pancras International; autumn 2016
AM peak arrivals (07:00-09:59) | PM peak departures (16:00-18:59) |
4.3% | 4.3% |
Passengers in excess of capacity, or PiXC, shows the percentage of standard class passengers above a service’s capacity at its busiest point. For example, a train with a capacity of 90 carrying 100 standard class passengers has 10 passengers in excess of capacity, and its PiXC percentage is 10% (that is, 10 passengers out of 100 are over the train’s capacity).
Further disaggregation of this data i.e. for particular services or routes are not published as they are deemed to be commercially confidential.
Asked by: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the feasibility of improving disabled access to platforms at Flitwick station; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to improving station accessibility and have continued with the Access for All programme which has delivered more than 160 accessible routes at stations. We will be making further funding available in the next Rail Control Period (2019-24) and will confirm the way in which we will deliver this as soon as possible.
For schemes such as Flitwick to be considered for this future funding it will need strong support from the industry. A proportion of third party funding would also help to weight the station’s business case.
Asked by: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many passengers travelled to London from Bedford during peak hours on East Midlands trains in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no published information on the number of passengers travelling between Bedford and London.
Asked by: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average spare capacity was on Thameslink trains from Bedford to St Pancras during peak hours in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no published information on the average spare capacity on Thameslink trains between Bedford and London St Pancras.
Asked by: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the travel experiences of blind and partially sighted people; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Government plans to publish an accessibility action plan (AAP) to improve the travel experience of disabled people, including blind and partially sighted people. We are working with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) to assess what information should go in this publication and how to update any other Departmental guidance to make it used and useful to visually impaired people and a wide audience. We plan for the AAP to be ready for wider consultation in the summer.
Asked by: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to make travel on the Thameslink line more accessible for disabled passengers.
Answered by Claire Perry
On the Thameslink route, the new Thameslink trains currently being manufactured will enter service later this year. The full fleet will be in service by the end of 2018. The train specification was developed to meet the latest standards and is fully compliant with accessibility standards for heavy rail (the Persons of Reduced Mobility Technical Specification for Interoperability – PRM-TSI).
To aid boarding and alighting, the Thameslink Programme is providing dedicated ramps at stations and on board the trains, in addition to raised platform areas at busy central London stations that will step free from street level to the new trains. The boarding positions will be clearly indicated for disabled users.
Asked by: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of Govia Thameslink's ability to safely transport disabled passengers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
We expect Govia Thameslink Railway to demonstrate its ability to carry all passengers safely through its safety management system. The Office of Rail and Road issues safety certificates for passenger operators in its capacity as safety regulator and carries out any enforcement necessary for safety issues.
Asked by: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many trains were cancelled on the Govia Thameslink rail line due to there being no trains available to operate services in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Claire Perry
In rail period 1608 (18 October – 14 November) there were 448 full and 403 part cancellations attributed to rolling stock fleet causes. These figures include cancellations made for service recovery reasons where the initial incident was caused by rolling stock failure.