Flooding: Transport Disruption Debate

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Department: Department for Transport

Flooding: Transport Disruption

Philip Hollobone Excerpts
Thursday 13th February 2014

(10 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord McLoughlin Portrait Mr McLoughlin
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As I have said, any Barnett consequentials that are necessary will take place.

Philip Hollobone Portrait Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
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The Transport Secretary will know that the midland main line runs diesel services through Kettering to his constituency in Derbyshire. He will also know that all too often those services are disrupted because the overhead line south of Bedford, which is used by First Capital Connect and Thameslink services, has gone out of commission. I echo the point about the resilience of the overhead lines. Will the Transport Secretary assure us that Network Rail realises that point and will put more investment into ensuring those lines stay up?

Lord McLoughlin Portrait Mr McLoughlin
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I am very pleased to say that the Government will be electrifying the whole of the line to Sheffield, which has been called for for a very long time. The electrification of our railways—we are committed to electrifying more than 800 miles in the next control period between 2014 and 2019—is very important for the long-term future of the railways in this country.