Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people in Wealden constituency have a full driving licence.
Answered by Andrew Jones
On 30 January 2016, there were 188,244 full driving licence holders in the Wealden constituency postal code areas.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23955, how much of those revenues were directed to his Department as fines for poor performance.
Answered by Claire Perry
None of the revenues relate to fines for poor performance paid to the Department as no fines were levied.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the revenue raised by Southern Rail in the last five years was passed back to GTR by his Department.
Answered by Claire Perry
Under the terms of its Franchise Agreement, Southern Railway Limited retained all of its revenue. The services operated by Southern Railway Limited were combined into a new franchise, the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise, on 26 July 2015 when the previous franchise ended.
No Southern Railway revenue has been passed back to GTR by the Department for Transport.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, by how much revenue accruing to Southern Rail has increased owing to higher passenger numbers in each of the five most recent years for which data is available.
Answered by Claire Perry
The published statutory accounts for Southern Railway Limited show the following Revenue figures for the period from 2010 to 2014. 2015 data is not yet available:
Year to 28th June 2014: £755m
Year to 29th June 2013:£705m
Year to 30th June 2012: £665m
Year to 2nd July 2011:£611m
Year to 3rd July 2010:£444m (part year – franchise commenced 20th September 2009)
These figures include passenger fares revenue, and income arising from third party rentals and subleases, and infrastructure access. Revenue increases include both price rises and increases in passenger numbers, however the latter is not separately identifiable.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on ensuring that free Wi-Fi is available on (a) the Uckfield line and (b) other Southern Rail services by 2017.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Prime Minister announced in February 2015 that four franchises would benefit from the reinvestment of a Network Rail penalty of nearly £50m to provide free Wi-Fi for passengers. This included Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), who operate the Southern trains under the Thameslink Southern and Great Northern franchise.
GTR are currently developing a proposal for the introduction of free Wi-Fi on all train fleets operated on their network, including the trains which operate on the Uckfield Line, which will be assessed by the Department for both affordability and value for money.
Subject to agreement with GTR, Wi-Fi services will be rolled out over the next 2 years, so trains can be fitted with minimal disruption to passenger services.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to investigate the management and communications with customers of (a) Southern and (b) Network Rail.
Answered by Claire Perry
We have been concerned about the direct and indirect impact of improvement works, poor performance and asset reliability on passengers; at times the delays and disruption for passengers have been inexcusable.
One of the key priorities in this new Parliament is to see train performance in the South-East improve. Officials and I have been working closely with the Chief Executive of Network Rail, Mark Carne, and the Management team of Southern and GTR to understand the causes of the problems and the plans to solve the issue.
I have also been chairing weekly meetings with senior members of Network Rail, GTR and Southern to ensure progress is being made. Passengers are at the heart of these discussions; in particular the need for better communication with passengers. We are committed to see improvements in this area, as well as improvements to performance.