Stephen Timms
Main Page: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)Department Debates - View all Stephen Timms's debates with the Department for Transport
(11 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr McLoughlin
I very much recognise the position faced by the hon. Gentleman’s constituents as far as the great western line is concerned, and I have organised a special briefing for Members of Parliament from Network Rail about that section of the rail network. As a new member of the Transport Committee, the hon. Gentleman will want to keep that under guard.
Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)
May I press the Secretary of State on the concern raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) about the HS2-HS1 interconnection? As I understand, under current proposals it will be limited to, at most, three trains per hour. As I am sure the Secretary of State will want trains from new HS2 destinations to run beyond London and across the channel, will we not have to do better than that with the interconnection?
Mr McLoughlin
I think I tried to address that in an earlier answer. Of course I want to look at how the connection works, and it will be possible to run some services from Old Oak Common direct to the continent if there is demand for that. We will certainly look at the issue, and at how the whole London interconnection works.