Rail Performance
Sally Jameson Excerpts(2 days, 10 hours ago)
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Louise Haigh
I have routine conversations with Northern Rail, as the hon. Gentleman would imagine. The most recent was on Thursday. We facilitated a new rest day working agreement with it, which has significantly reduced driver cancellations, but there is an outstanding issue with conductors; there is a very similar situation with Great Western. In parts of Northern Rail, particularly in the north-west, Sundays are not included in the working week. That has led to an unacceptable amount of cancellations, which we are working to resolve. I will raise the issue of stopping at Preston with Avanti separately.
Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)
Doncaster has a long and historic relationship with the railways; we are home to both the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman. The financial sustainability and success of rail are critical to our local economy, so can the Secretary of State update the House on the net cost of the solution that she brokered to end the strikes?
Louise Haigh
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The strikes were costing us £20 million a day in lost revenue. That is aside from the economic impact of people coming off the railways and not making journeys to work, to see friends and family or to visit other towns and cities. Settling the pay disputes that were pervading our railways has already paid for itself.