Govia Thameslink Franchise Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Oliver Heald
Main Page: Oliver Heald (Conservative - North East Hertfordshire)Department Debates - View all Oliver Heald's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Govia Thameslink Franchise
Oliver Heald Excerpts(6 years, 5 months ago)
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Joseph Johnson
The Department’s top priority is to ensure that passenger services across GTR get back to the standard where they need to be. The hon. Gentleman asked about compensation; it is being predominantly funded by GTR, which will not receive payments that it would otherwise have received for delivering the timetable. Network Rail will make a contribution towards the cost of compensation, recognising that it too played a part in the disruption experienced by passengers. Our rail industry is in both public and private hands, so it is appropriate that both parts contribute to the important compensation that passengers will receive.
Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con)
My hon. Friend will recall the assurance given to me by the Prime Minister that
“nothing is off the table”—[Official Report, 4 July 2018; Vol. 644, c. 313]—
if the interim timetable fails. He is monitoring GTR’s performance carefully, but so far this week it has been less good on the Cambridge line than in some other parts. Will he continue to put pressure on GTR for a proper service for my constituents, who have suffered so badly over recent weeks? Will he also look into compensation for carnet holders as well as season-ticket holders?
Joseph Johnson
I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for recognising that there has been improvement, even if it has not been consistent across all parts of the GTR network. We particularly want to see an even higher standard of service on Great Northern, which serves his constituency, than there has been. Performance overall has been improving: as I said, yesterday the PPMs on Thameslink were at 84% and at 86% on Great Northern. There have been some operational difficulties today due to a signalling failure, which is a Network Rail responsibility. As part of our work with GTR, we are ensuring that it pays particular attention to areas such as that of my right hon. and learned Friend where there has been poorer performance than that across the rest of the GTR franchise as a whole.