Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many passengers boarded a rail service from Tooting rail station in the last 12 months.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Office of Rail and Road produces annual estimates on the number of entries, exits and interchanges at each station across the network. It is expected that they will publish their figures for April 2022 to March 2023 in November of this year, whilst records for the rail year April 2021 to March 2022 and those prior can be found on the ORR website.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of rail services that ran from Tooting rail station were cancelled in the last 12 months.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
During May 2022 to May 2023, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) cancellation levels were 5.9 per cent across the network and 7.3 per cent at Tooting station. Reliability remains a priority for my Departments and I am encouraged by improvements in recent months; GTR’s Cancellations were 3.6 per cent over the most recent rail period between 30 April 2023 to 27 May 2023. This is GTR’s best cancellation performance since May 2021 and levels at Tooting over this same period totalled 2.6 per cent
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has taken recent steps to help improve the punctuality of rail services at Tooting rail station.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
My Department monitors punctuality closely and continues to engage with Govia Thameslink Railway and Network Rail to deliver performance improvement plans in this area. On Time performance at Tooting station for the 2022-23 rail year was 79.6 per cent, above the national average of 67.8 per cent for the same time period. Since December 2022, On Time performance has improved across the network each period and currently stands at 75.5 per cent.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of train services in the Tooting constituency.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
My Department and train operating companies monitor demand closely to deliver a timetable which matches passenger needs and provides the right level and consistency of service. The May 2023 timetable changes included an increase from four to five carriages to the hourly service between East Croydon and Watford Junction, which serves Balham station and others in the immediate area. Service provision remains under regular and thorough review.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of disabled access at Wandsworth Common Station.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
My Department recently conducted an audit of Wandsworth Common on suitability for passengers with accessibility requirements. The station has been nominated under the Access for All scheme, which has provided step free access routes at over 220 stations and delivered smaller scale enhancements at over 1,500 since the programme was launched in 2006.
We are working with Network Rail to assess nominations at over 300 locations, and I expect to make an announcement on successful schemes later this year.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data his Department holds on the proportion of trains which did not arrive on time between (a) 07:30 and 09:30 and (b) 17:00 and 19:00 at (i) Balham, (ii) Earlsfield, (iii) Tooting and (iv) Wandsworth Common rail station in the last 12 months.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
My Department does not hold data to that level of detail. However, I can confirm the proportion of trains which arrived On Time (defined as less than one minute late against the public timetable) at those stations during the 2022-23 rail year was 83.9% at Balham, 71.5% at Earlsfield, 79.6% at Tooting and 80.6% at Wandsworth Common. These compare to a National On Time average of 67.8% across all Operators for the same time period
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of improving service levels at Tooting rail station.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
My Department and train operating companies monitor demand closely to deliver a timetable which matches passenger needs and provides the right level and consistency of service. There are no plans to increase service levels at Tooting station in the near future, although service provision remains under regular review.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether there has been a review of the safety of air conditioning systems in commercial aircraft to reduce the risk of those systems spreading covid-19 among passengers.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Air conditioning systems on modern aircraft filter cabin air every few minutes through High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters. These filters are very effective at capturing airborne microbes in the filtered air, and when coupled with the drawn in fresh air, can help to mitigate the longer range risk of transmission. A review is being undertaken for the other known routes of transmission.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 21 January 2020 to Question 3859 on Cycling and Walking: Finance, what funding has been allocated to the £350 million cycling infrastructure fund; and whether and that fund has (a) tendered for bids and (b) received applications for funding from that fund; and whether any cycling schemes have been allocated financial support from that fund.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
No funding has yet been allocated to the new Cycle Infrastructure Fund. This will be considered as part of forthcoming fiscal events. Further details, including on matters such as the fund’s eligibility criteria and application process, will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 291096 on Cycling and Walking: Finance, what additional funding will be allocated for (a) walking and (b) cycling to meet Government targets for levels of activity in those areas.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The levels of funding for cycling and walking in future years will be matters for the forthcoming Budget and Spending Review, further details of which will be announced in due course. The Government is committed to investing in cycling and walking to achieve the aims set out in the 2017 statutory Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS), and the manifesto included a commitment to create a new £350 million cycling infrastructure fund.