Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to p.26 of the UK Wireless Infrastructure Strategy published by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in April 2023, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure the consistency of wireless connectivity on the rail network.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department is working closely with Network Rail Telecoms on initiatives such as Project Reach to improve connectivity on the rail network and consults with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on developments
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made a comparative assessment of the performance of (a) passenger Wi-Fi and (b) non-passenger data transmission by each of the train operating companies that are (i) contracted by him to the private sector and (ii) under the control of DfT OLR Holdings Limited with international counterparts.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We do not hold information on average data transmission speeds and we do not have a comparative assessment.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether (a) data caps and (b) bandwidth throttling are being applied by each of the train operating companies under the control of DfT OLR Holdings Limited.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
This is a commercial matter for the operator.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress Network Rail has made on finalising the contract for Project Reach.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Network Rail are in exclusive discussions with NEOS Networks to finalise the proposal on Project Reach. As these discussions are commercially sensitive, the Department is unable to disclose any details at this stage.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse was of (a) acquiring and (b) managing (i) land and (ii) property associated with Phase 2 of HS2 as of 31 January 2024; and whether he has made an estimate of potential future costs for the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As of 31 December 2023, a total cost of £580m was spent on acquiring both land and property on Phase 2 broken down as follows:
(including HS2 East)
Around £17m is forecast to be spent on Phase 2 land and property in the last three months of the 23/24 financial year, for the settlement of transactions agreed before the cancellation of Phase 2 announced on 4 October. The management of the land and property portfolio in Phase 2 incurred a total of £1.69m during the 23/24 financial year, which covers full portfolio management including sourcing tenants, rent collection, commercial negotiation, compliance, accounting, and surveying.
Any land and property asset that is no longer required will be sold or repurposed for Northen Powerhouse Rail, and a programme is being developed to do this. We expect much of the capital cost of acquiring these properties will be recovered when they are resold.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the average Wi-Fi (a) download and (b) upload speed per passenger provided by each of the train operating companies.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department last commissioned Transport Focus to conduct this research in July 2020. The data is available online in a report titled ‘Keeping Connected: passengers’ experience of internet connectivity on Great Britain’s railways’
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many mobile masts have been installed on the London-Brighton railway by Cellnex since 2021; and how many mobile network operators were offering services from Cellnex masts as of 1 February 2024.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold this information as this is a commercial contract being delivered by Cellnex.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Rail Networks Enhancement Pipeline most recently published on 16 October 2019, whether it remains his policy that the Rail Networks Enhancement Pipeline will be published on an annual basis.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Whilst the Government remains committed to investing in rail, as demonstrated by the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement which detailed an unprecedented number of commitments, significant changes to travel patterns after the pandemic and the challenging fiscal environment rightly require reconsideration of the rail infrastructure portfolio.
We understand the interests of stakeholders - industry and local representatives - in the visibility of our forward programme of work. Moving forward we intend to review, with involvement from the supply chain, how best to provide updates on the rail enhancements portfolio.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects work on the upgrade to Ely Junction to (a) begin and (b) be completed.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The recently announced Network North programme of investment included confirmation of government’s support for the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement (EACE) programme and the substantial benefits this will bring, including a doubling of passenger services on the Ely to Kings Lynn and Ipswich to Peterborough routes together with additional freight paths into the Port of Felixstowe.
Network Rail have developed the scheme to Outline Business Case stage; next steps will involve further investment case development and delivery planning.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much and what proportion of his Department's budget has been allocated for track renewals in England and Wales in the next five years.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Track renewals are funded by Network Rail from the £44.1 billion provided by the Government to fund Network Rail’s operations, maintenance and renewal activity in Control Period 7 (the period from April 2024 to March 2029). Network Rail plans expenditure of roughly £3.5 billion on track renewals in England and Wales in Control Period 7.