Great Western Main Line

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts
Tuesday 9th January 2024

(2 months, 2 weeks ago)

Westminster Hall
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Richard Graham Portrait Richard Graham
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As I was saying, the network of Great Western Railway today stretches from Pembroke Dock to Falmouth Docks, from Portsmouth to Gatwick and to Hereford. The GWR railway network now runs more than 1,600 services a day, with more than 80 million passenger journeys. That, of course, is significantly down on the pre-covid figure, which was almost 100 million.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
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I congratulate the hon. Member on securing today’s debate. I recently met the GWR managing director Mark Hopwood and his team because many of my Slough constituents were angered and frustrated by the reduction in the number of fast trains going to and from Slough. Given that Slough is a huge business hub, does the hon. Member agree that it is incumbent on the Government and GWR to ensure, for the benefit of the local, regional and national economy, that we have a large number of fast trains so that commuters can go to and fro? If he cannot comment on that Slough-related topic, does he agree that it is about time the Government built the western rail link to Heathrow, having committed to it more than a decade ago and given that it is the No. 1 infrastructure priority for the whole Thames Valley region?

Richard Graham Portrait Richard Graham
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The hon. Member touches on one of the themes of this debate: the importance of Members of Parliament working very closely with their railway operator, the Department for Transport and Network Rail to try to achieve the services that their constituents most value. I will not comment on the business of commuter traffic from Slough to Paddington—it is not my specialist area. On his second point, constituents all over Gloucestershire and Wiltshire would relish the opportunity provided by opening Great Western Railway services to Heathrow. I am sure the Minister will want to touch on that, and I thank the hon. Member for his intervention.

Of course, there have been constant improvements to the network in recent times, although there have also been some real difficulties—as The Sunday Times focused on at Theale over the weekend—and colleagues will no doubt highlight those successes or failures. Since he cannot be with us, I highlight for my neighbour, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk), the improved forecourt, interchange cycle hub and 70 additional car park spaces in his constituency that he and Great Western Railway have worked successfully on together. There is also the fourth platform at Bristol Parkway, the delivery of the MetroWest network, the new Portway park-and-ride station, and the new Ashley Down station coming soon. All of those are helpful in the west country. In all this, the Department has played its part, as have successive Ministers, including this one, who is a great supporter and champion of railways, which is important.

Inevitably, I would like to highlight what has been achieved in Gloucester since 2010. Gloucester railway station is an extraordinary animal. It has the longest platform in the country, but it is on a spur off the main line between Birmingham and Bristol, and therefore there has always been a lot to do. Since 2010, we have managed a significant number of improvements, including a covered walkway between platforms 2 and 1, the new waiting rooms, and a new accessible station footbridge with the lifts and eventually the canopy. That also led to a remodelled station booking office, and we have introduced additional car parking on the south side of the station, which was a major business. It is difficult to transfer an asset from the Ministry of Justice to the city council—that took about three years, but we got there eventually.

The new hourly direct services between Gloucester and Paddington also benefit all my colleagues in Gloucester. The new pay-as-you-go smartcard has been helpful in a number of ways not originally anticipated, particularly when the station underpass has been closed to access. Work is going on as we speak to deliver further improvements, particularly on the underpass, which is a sensitive bit of infrastructure that links the hospital to the city centre and which Great Western has gallantly taken on. There will also be a big improvement in the electric vehicle charging stations, the forecourts, bus services and so on.

I want to highlight for the Minister that although the journey time to Paddington has been reduced by 15 minutes since electrification, there is an opportunity to increase the speed of the services simply by renegotiating how long the trains stop at Gloucester. That time is currently 10 minutes, to allow the driver to walk from one end of the train to the other, but even at a slow amble that journey could not possibly take more than a minute and a half.

It is also important to recognise some of GWR’s community contribution and community projects, such as the Getaway project for independent rail travel. Its biggest contribution to community, however, comes from station staff, who are coping, calming and carrying on. When strikes happen, no one shouts at a train driver, because they are not there. It is Steve, Mike, Alan, Naomi and all their colleagues who cop it at Gloucester and all the other stations along the line. They deal with the drunks, the drugs and even the MP who left his bag on the train. I salute them all.

This debate has to touch on problems as well. I will highlight four. The first is the continuing strikes by train drivers, which damage trust and confidence, and put a lot of strain on other Great Western Railway employees. The second is the extraordinary feature that train drivers do not have to work on a Sunday. I cannot think of any other transport system—I was an airline manager once—where the driver or pilot would be allowed to decide whether they rock up on a Sunday. That ruins many weekends for families.

The third problem is the business of Network Rail’s infrastructure, particularly the failures in the Thames valley. It is easy to criticise Network Rail, but there are some real problems and anything the Department can do to improve the infrastructure in the Thames valley will make a huge difference to all of us. The last problem is the taxpayer subsidy. We must let managers manage and civil servants hold them to account. That is the only way in which we will get the railway operators to innovate and to continue to improve with better rolling stock and low-carbon operations that support travellers and help families and growth.

All those things matter. There are opportunities for big projects ahead. The Filton Bank electrification promoted by the western gateway to electrify and speed up journeys between Bristol and Birmingham in particular would be a very good project for the DFT to support. Just before coming into this Chamber, I heard from my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for South Swindon (Sir Robert Buckland) that Great Western Railway has decided to open the line from Swindon to Oxford, which will have a lot of advantages for many travellers.

I see the opportunities and the improvements at Gloucester station that have happened and are happening. I will certainly continue to work closely on all those, because ultimately, railway stations and railway operations are in danger of being an orphan. They are not well managed by county councils. It is up to us here both to hold them to account and to encourage them to innovate. I hope that I and all my colleagues in Gloucestershire and elsewhere will continue to work closely with Great Western Railway to achieve the necessary improvements.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts
Thursday 14th December 2023

(3 months, 2 weeks ago)

Commons Chamber
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Huw Merriman Portrait Huw Merriman
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I have met my hon. Friend and I appreciate the work that he does campaigning for the stations in his constituency. I have regular conversations with people from Govia Thameslink Railway, and I know that they have recently increased capacity on some busy services through Carshalton and Hackbridge. On Hackbridge station, I offer to meet him with a team from Network Rail to see whether we can address the matter that he mentions.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
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Such was the excitement in Wales in 2012 when Conservative Ministers announced that they would be building the four-mile western rail link to Heathrow to open in 2020 that First Minister Rhodri Morgan described it as one of the “most important announcements” in the last 50 years, but it was yet another broken promise. After more than a decade, when does the Transport Secretary expect the first spade to be dug into the ground to build the No.1 infrastructure priority of the Thames Valley region?

Huw Merriman Portrait Huw Merriman
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When this proposal was first mooted, it was to be a 50:50 split with Heathrow airport and the new runway, but matters changed after the pandemic. We are determined to see private sector involvement in the railways continue. If there is a private sector proposal, we are very happy to support it, but these schemes must not come at the expense of taxpayers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts
Thursday 26th October 2023

(5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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Right. Let us move on.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
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7. What assessment has he made of the adequacy of progress on constructing the Western Rail Link to Heathrow.

Huw Merriman Portrait The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Huw Merriman)
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The Government remain committed to improving rail access to Heathrow airport, and recognise the importance of the improved rail connectivity that a western rail link could provide. We need to ensure that projects that we take forward reflect the changed shape of rail demand and are affordable. I understand that, as a consequence, the promoters of a western rail link are updating their proposal.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Dhesi
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You will be aware, Mr Speaker, that I have long championed a western rail link to Heathrow, which would connect 20% of the UK population to within one interchange of our nation’s main airport. The Government committed to it over a decade ago, yet not a single spade has dug into the ground. Sadly, the Government have more of a reputation for cancelling rail links than for building them. Perhaps the rail Minister, who kindly met me recently about the issue, will have better news for us today. What meetings has he had with Heathrow airport, Thames Valley chamber of commerce and other stakeholders to progress this vital 4 mile rail link between Slough and Heathrow?

Huw Merriman Portrait Huw Merriman
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May I first thank the former shadow rail Minister for the times that we had together? It is true that he has been a champion of this project, and indeed pretty much every other rail project that I have gone to an all-party parliamentary group for, where he had already agreed to pre-fund it. I assume that now he is a shadow Treasury Minister he might be cancelling some of his previous decisions in a bid for fiscal credibility.

This particular project was due to be funded 50:50, but things have changed post pandemic for Heathrow, so it is right that it goes back to the drawing board. We will always support rail investments that can be paid for by private enterprise. That is what our Network North project is all about.

Zero-emission Vehicles, Drivers and HS2

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts
Monday 16th October 2023

(5 months, 2 weeks ago)

Commons Chamber
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Mark Harper Portrait Mr Harper
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My right hon. Friend raises two separate points. One is about the reasons why there have been cost increases. Some of this was in place before the project was in construction—from planning and issues like that, which are worth looking at in the long term, although that will not help in this case. We have also seen significant cost increases, not least due to construction inflation over the past few years. However, this is not just about cost increases; it is also about the benefit reduction. One of the key parts of the business case for HS2 was that it was for business and business traffic. We have seen business rail use and commuter rail use halve post-pandemic because of the changed way in which people choose to travel. That has been an essential part of the decision, and that is why we have decided to change the way we spend the money—not to not spend it, but to spend it on transport investments closer to the way people live their lives. We think that is the right decision, notwithstanding the fact that I recognise that my right hon. Friend is disappointed by it.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
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The Government claimed that the decision to scrap most of HS2 was made due to rising costs, yet who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury and then Chancellor when the costs were spiralling out of control? The current Prime Minister. Not content with that failure, we now know that he also wasted a shocking £2.2 billion on the leg of HS2 that has just been cancelled. Secretary of State, does this entire fiasco not illustrate how little regard the Government have for taxpayers’ money?

Mark Harper Portrait Mr Harper
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No, not at all. Having no regard for taxpayers’ money would be deciding that a project was going to cost too much and deliver too little in benefits, and then continuing to spend taxpayers’ money regardless. This will not be welcomed by everybody and it was not the consensus view, but we have decided to cancel the second phase. By the way, this was about not just increased costs, but the combination of increased costs and reduced benefits, as I said in answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark). It was about the two things together, and we have decided to reinvest the money in alternative transport projects, which, by the way, have a higher return on investment and will therefore deliver a greater return to taxpayers. That shows exactly the opposite of what the hon. Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi) said—that we value taxpayers’ money and want to deliver the best return for taxpayers’ money, which is why we have made this change in how we are investing their hard-earned money.

Camp Hill Line Railway Stations, Birmingham

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts
Wednesday 19th July 2023

(8 months, 2 weeks ago)

Westminster Hall
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Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Nokes. I extend my gratitude to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Tahir Ali) for bringing forward this important debate. I know that the project, like many promised by this Government, has been a long time in the making. In fact, my hon. Friend was instrumental in campaigning and lobbying for it even prior to his time in this place.

It is beyond clear that the delivery of this project will be transformational for the local area and provide residents with a vital and sustainable transport connection. That will bring residents closer to the transport hubs in Birmingham, reducing journey times into Birmingham to eight to 14 minutes for those living near the stations of Pineapple Road, Kings Heath and Moseley village. Sadly, the Government’s hallmark of continued delays and broken promises in their transport plans seems to have permeated to Conservative West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street.

As Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr Mahmood), have touched on, it has been over 80 years since the Camp Hill line was used by anything other than freight and through services. That is a clear wasted opportunity. When it is harnessed, the line will connect local residents with easier ways to travel to work, education and leisure, all while reducing emissions by increasing passenger usage of a less polluting form of transport.

Some 3.7 billion vehicle miles were travelled on roads in Birmingham in 2019. It is unsurprising that the West Midlands Combined Authority claims that this project alone will reduce traffic congestion in the area by up to 25%. Rail connections into cities and across areas in the midlands are vital in our battle against the climate crisis, but have sadly been long neglected.

As we have seen recently, even when plans are committed to, they have been riddled with delays and mismanaged, with ballooning budgets. Just a few months ago, for example, the Government announced that the delivery of HS2 into Birmingham, which would have benefited the constituencies of all Members from the area, will be delayed by another two years, holding back further the transformational impact of the project. Further delays on rail infrastructure in the region, which were noted by my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe), are disappointing. Inflationary pressures have been cited as one of the causes. Our stubbornly high inflation in comparison to other European nations is alarming, and it is having a devastating impact on households and our future infrastructure.

We know that delays cost money, as we have seen with London Euston’s HS2 terminal. It is completely understandable that the Members present and the residents they represent want answers. I hope the Minister is able to alleviate their concerns, following his recent conversations with the West Midlands Mayor and other stakeholders. What is the exact cost impact of these delays, and will the project remain within budget? We must ensure that the detail of the delays is made clear and that the process of reducing them is fully transparent for all right hon. and hon. Members’ constituents, so what can the Minister share with us today? We must also ensure that this is the only delay to the project and that mitigations are in place. As the project will be enhanced by the completion of other local projects, how will the recently announced exploration of the feasibility of a new station in Balsall Health impact on the Camp Hill line plans? If it is granted, will it delay the final delivery of the line further?

In the light of recent announcements, I would like some reassurances on the accessibility and ticketing functions at this station. Will there be a ticket office at these stations, or will it be limited to staff on the platform? We are all aware of the sham consultation that is taking place on ticket office closures, which I hope the Government will discontinue and on which there is legal action pending. While it is clear that this project has wide-ranging support, we must ensure that more is done to keep it on track. This is a crucial decade to build the future of transport and tackle the climate crisis. Sluggish progress will simply not cut it.

Volumetric Concrete Mobile Plants

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts
Thursday 22nd June 2023

(9 months, 1 week ago)

Westminster Hall
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Alistair Carmichael Portrait Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)
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I beg to move,

That this House has considered volumetric concrete mobile plants.

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Efford. I place on record my appreciation of the Backbench Business Committee for allowing us time to debate an important, if hopefully not the most contentious, area of political regulation.

We are doubtless all familiar with the sight of large conventional drum mixers carrying concrete around our streets and roads. Those drum mixers operate at 32 tonnes and carry loads of 8 cubic metres to building sites. They carry concrete that has been prepared in a fixed location and then loaded on to the mixers. Drum mixers are the dominant force in the market, and there are something in the region of 20,000 of them.

Volumetric concrete mixers are a much smaller part of the concrete sector but can operate in circumstances in which the conventional drum mixers do not, most notably in rural areas or where smaller batches are required. They can legally weigh up to 44 tonnes on five axles and 38.4 tonnes on four axles. That is at the heart of the matter that I wish to discuss. They deliver concrete to individuals and smaller businesses and mix concrete on site. They are particularly useful for reaching remote areas and tight urban sites, and compared with larger traditional concrete carriers they have a range of other benefits, notably their lower carbon usage.

There is a large element of time-sensitivity at play here. Once mixed, concrete has a shelf life of only two hours, which means that drum mixers must get to their construction site and pour the concrete within that two-hour period or it goes to waste and to landfill. The need for VCMs in rural areas—where there are fewer plants mixing concrete at scale, if indeed there are any at all, and hence longer road journeys to sites—is obvious, but the place of VCMs in the sector goes beyond that. They are particularly useful for emergency road and rail repairs, where the mixer may have to wait around. For a drum mixer, an expensive batching plant must be set up to avoid concrete becoming unusable at the two-hour mark, but VCMs have no such issues, which shows their benefits in such situations.

There is a very real danger that, if the Government’s regulation of the sector gets the balance wrong, the whole volumetric concrete sector could be placed at risk and a small but very important part of the construction industry could be lost, for little discernible benefit.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
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I thank the right hon. Gentleman for securing today’s debate on volumetric concrete mobile plants and for allowing me to intervene. Having worked in the construction industry for about two decades, and having gained a dumper driver ticket to take ready-mixed concrete on a dumper to various parts of the construction site, I could not resist taking part in today’s debate. More to the point, my constituency is home to Mixamate, which is a ready-mixed concrete business. Mixamate highlights to me not only the impact on livelihoods but the environmental and economic damage that policy could create. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is incumbent on the Government to undertake a full impact assessment of current legislation?

Alistair Carmichael Portrait Mr Carmichael
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Had I known that the hon. Gentleman had that level of expertise, I would have had him on the all-party parliamentary group for lower carbon construction vehicles a long time ago. I agree with him. I do not want to reheat old debates, but we are where we are today because there was not a proper economic and environmental impact assessment at the time. I hope the Minister will indicate that the Government are willing to revisit the issue. If we go through the process properly, we will find that there is a better way of dealing with the issue, but I will let the Minister speak for himself.

VCMs operate right across the United Kingdom. Their manufacture and use are estimated to contribute £380 million to the economy and employ more than 15,000 skilled workers. They operate the length and breadth of the country, and in communities such as those that I represent they are of prime importance to the local construction sector. Businesses such as Andrew Sinclair Ltd in Orkney and Tulloch Developments in Shetland tell me regularly about the desperately detrimental impact that the proposed changes will have on them.

Companies with VCMs operate in at least 134 constituencies and are a truly integral part of the country’s construction industry. For almost 50 years, they have operated within a proportionate regulatory environment. Until 2018, VCMs on four axles could run at the manufacturer’s design weight, which is often about 41 tonnes. However, in 2018, the Department for Transport decided to impose a 32 tonne limit for all VCMs, enacted through the Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2017. The limit forces VCM operators to phase out their current VCMs by 2028, replacing them with the 32 tonne model, which is equally expensive but less effective. Lighter vehicles mean more journeys on the road and more carbon emissions as a consequence.

That is despite the fact that Highways England’s 2017 report endorsed the operation of VCMs at about 44 tonnes on five axles and 38.4 tonnes on four axles. That proposal had the support of the then Transport Minister, the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes). To be less than generous, this is a classic example of an obscure regulation changed by civil servants that causes a massive headache for businesses in the real world.

Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts
Wednesday 14th June 2023

(9 months, 2 weeks ago)

Westminster Hall
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Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
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It is a pleasure to serve once again under your chairship, Ms Fovargue. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) for securing this important debate on the future of our railways. He eloquently explained that the status quo is not working: fares are high, services are not running, and passengers are not happy. The rail model is broken.

Whenever someone puts their name to something and is then no longer there to lead it, the project is usually destined for failure, as was the case when the then Transport Secretary, the right hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps), decided to append his name to the long-awaited Williams review, calling it the Williams-Shapps review, and was then unceremoniously moved out of office to be replaced by another Transport Secretary. I knew straightaway that the review was doomed to be discarded and dumped, which is the situation we now find ourselves in.

It has been two years since the Williams-Shapps plan for rail was published, promising the biggest shake-up of our railways in three decades. We certainly have seen a shake-up, including three Prime Ministers and as many Transport Secretaries, two failing train operating companies put under the operator of last resort, endless strikes, and nearly one in 20 services cancelled in the third quarter of 2022-23. As the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Gavin Newlands) remarked, the Government are ideologically opposed to taking rail back into public ownership, as the Labour party has proposed. Great British Railways was hailed by the Government as the solution—a guiding mind with clear, central accountability. That means nothing if the status quo remains and progress continues to stall.

As the hon. Member for West Dorset (Chris Loder) explained, the path ahead of us is unclear. There is enormous uncertainty in an enormous industry. If Great British Railways is the Government’s flagship rail policy, it has certainly run aground. As explained by the Chair of the Transport Committee, the hon. Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart), there is Government drift on GBR, especially on the legislation. Just a few weeks ago, it was reported that officials were told that it would not be a priority and would not appear in the King’s Speech. GBR has been taken out of the transport Bill, and it may have only a fraction of the powers first proposed. A new headquarters has been announced amid much fanfare and videos produced at taxpayers’ expense, but concrete proposals for it are nowhere to be seen.

I look forward to the Minister providing some clarity. Perhaps he can tell us whether the Government even remain committed to delivering Great British Railways in full. If they are, will he use this opportunity to outline exactly what non-legislative steps will be taken by his Department to move forward with Great British Railways, and when? It cannot become an expensive vanity project, with taxpayers footing the bill. They have spent £50 million and counting on the transition team, and £20 million on consultants alone.

Worse still, the Government forced local authorities into a protracted competition for the opportunity to host Great British Railways’ headquarters, on a promise that it would bring jobs and opportunities. Now, after spending its precious time and resources, Derby is stuck in limbo—a fitting metaphor for the Government, who cannot help but over-promise and under-deliver. I urge the Government to get on with it. As the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Jack Brereton) highlighted, the Government must stop dragging their heels, but they have been too busy lurching from crisis to crisis, while rail operators’ poor performance has gone unpunished or, even worse, been rewarded. In April, the Transport Secretary authorised a £65 million reward payout for First Group, the company that ran two of the worst-performing operators last year. It is absolutely absurd. Passengers deserve better.

We have years of missing annual updates on the rail network enhancements pipeline, which is vital to industry stakeholders. We have had consistent industrial action, which Ministers admit is costing much more than if they had agreed the pay rises for rail workers. We were promised simpler fares; instead, we get a 5.9% increase. We were promised net zero; instead, we got only 2.2 km of rail electrification in 2022. We were promised centralised timetabling; instead, we got service reductions and cancellations. We were promised devolution; instead, we got disparity, with the north left in the lurch.

Our railways are on a downward turn, despite journeys returning to pre-pandemic levels. Passengers and the industry feel as though they have been abandoned. Unity, vision, leadership—that is what our railways need, and what stakeholders and passengers want, not this broken system under this broken Government.

East West Rail: Bedford to Cambridge

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts
Tuesday 13th June 2023

(9 months, 2 weeks ago)

Westminster Hall
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Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I extend my gratitude to the hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller) for securing this important debate. It is clear that the debate has allowed Members from both sides to diligently voice their concerns on behalf of their constituents, and I commend their passion in ensuring that the voices of local people are heard. I hope the Minister has been listening intently and will address the questions posed to him clearly and transparently.

Despite being the Member for Slough, I am not stranger to Cambridge or Oxford, having studied at both universities, and I appreciate the importance of joining these two great cities by rail. More recently, I have had the pleasure of visiting Winslow station. I have also spoken to East West Rail in Milton Keynes, and visited some excellent companies in Milton Keynes that are local to this project, including on the Aylesbury spur, which would no doubt enhance the Bedford to Cambridge connection. Indeed, the line runs through some of the most productive and fastest growing towns and cities. The area supports over 2 million jobs and adds over £110 billion to the economy every year.

As shadow Rail Minister, my support for better rail connections should come as no surprise. As my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) eloquently explained, connecting our great towns and cities through rail links has been proven time and again to provide more opportunities, bolster local economies, unite communities and address the pressing climate crisis. I will always be an advocate for investing in our rail network to make it work for passengers, local communities and the rail industry. That is why it is so important to address the concerns laid out today in order to progress with the project in a way that benefits local people, businesses and passengers.

Putting it plainly, we should not have such limited public transport along this route. Currently, travel from Bedford to Cambridge is restricted to an hour and a half bus service. With the new connection, that is cut to a mere 35 minutes. Quicker journey times, emissions slashed by up to 76% and pressure taken off local roads: the benefits of rail are clear. Those within commuting distance will be increased, with a wider pool of talent for businesses and universities, increasing jobs and opportunities. No wonder, as my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge again explained to us eloquently, that the top 50 employers in Cambridge have written to the Government in support of the scheme. The aim of the project—to deliver people a better and more convenient way to travel locally—must be maintained alongside local input, consultation and co-operation, not without it.

As hon. Members have outlined, the line covers an area that is going through a great deal of change and growth. This period of flux will undoubtedly mean that significant decisions will be made on infrastructure. Increasing the number of services to meet the existing and growing demand in the region is vital. Failure to provide Government funding to ensure that these needs are met is simply unacceptable. Across our country we have seen people struggle to get GP appointments, a place at their local school or on to the property ladder, and that is exacerbated in areas of high growth and development, as has been highlighted by hon. Members today. That is why progress on the project should be completed alongside public consultation, with local authorities and local people ensuring that decisions are made to benefit the communities who live in those areas.

I feel like a broken record when I say that progress on the project has been characteristically slow, as with countless other rail projects on this Government’s watch that we have debated in the main Chamber and in Westminster Hall. Just last year, the project was rated as “red” by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s delivery confidence assessment, which noted that the later stages of the project “appear unachievable”.

The National Infrastructure Commission, no less, recently commented:

“The region presents a significant growth opportunity for the UK but this will be missed if long term certainty is not provided.”

It seems that the Government are lagging behind in all areas. We must build a network for the future, but just 2.2 km of electrified track was added to our rail network last year, while other European nations and others around the world have been full steam ahead—no pun intended—on full electrification. Why has the Minister not insisted on full electrification for the new route, as has been highlighted by my hon. Friends the Members for Bedford (Mohammad Yasin) and for Cambridge, and others? What considerations has he made of the use of trains that are not diesel-only?

As with much of our railway, the Government’s lack of leadership and dithering has impacted progress. The impact of sky-high inflation on building costs, and ongoing Government uncertainty, have not been unique factors in the scheme. Although I am grateful for the Department’s latest update, I am sure the Minister can see that concerns remain. Most notably, perhaps, is the proposed demolition of homes in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Bedford, who is a persistently strong champion and voice for his constituents. The Minister should directly address those concerns and meet my hon. Friend to discuss next steps. This is clearly devastating for the affected communities, as in the constituencies of the hon. Members for South Cambridgeshire (Anthony Browne) and for North East Bedfordshire.

An updated formal business case should also be published. It is simply unacceptable that we are progressing without that update. Clear and effective consultation is clearly the best way forward. The intentions of the project have always been to serve the local community better, so we must ensure that the final project achieves that. I assure hon. Members on both sides of the House that I will personally raise these matters directly with the chief executive of EWR in my planned meeting with her.

EWR must have direct engagement with affected residents to provide all the support that will be needed through the process, particularly regarding compensation and the sale of nearby homes. Will the Minister confirm what action has been taken and what co-ordination there will be with local representatives—Members of Parliament or councillors and authorities—following the recent announcement? Delivering rail projects with local communities’ needs at the very heart should be second nature to a Government in power for 13 years, but sadly they are more chaotic than ever.

We in the region will now have inflicted on us another by-election in which constituents will no doubt deliver a resounding message as to why they will not reward failure. Those that lose out most from Government incompetence are ordinary working people, so I hope the Rail Minister will use this opportunity to address the concerns laid out today. With our railways readying to go full steam ahead, we can ill afford to renege on further infrastructure promises. The people of the north have been betrayed. We cannot allow the people of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to be betrayed. We cannot allow passengers to be let down once again.

Huw Merriman Portrait The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Huw Merriman)
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It is a pleasure, Sir Mark, to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller) for securing this important debate on East West Rail from Bedford to Cambridge. I have listened carefully to his representations. As everyone in the debate has said, he makes excellent points and sets us a challenge. I am keen to work with him to address those points.

I have noted the six or seven points he raised. I will go through some this afternoon, but I will write to him on all of them. I want to work with him to ensure the project is delivered in a way that maximises benefits for members of his constituency and the country as a whole. I am well aware that, when it comes to building new railways, some are very much in favour because they benefit directly or indirectly from the delivery of that new railway. We will always call for infrastructure to be delivered before housing. This is an opportunity where that can be delivered.

Of course, there are those whose lives are directly impacted and blighted by railways, who suffer as a result of the build. I have every sympathy with them, and I am keen to work with my hon. Friend and other hon. Members to minimise that and to give as much information, clarity and frankness in the process as we can. I say that as someone whose family lives in Buckingham and is well aware of the impact of HS2. “I get it,” is what I want to say this afternoon.

Let me speak a little about the project and then go into detail as I go along. The East West Rail project will improve the UK economy, supporting ambitions for the Oxford to Cambridge region, to add £103 billion extra gross value added by 2050, securing the UK’s future as a world leader in science and technology. East West Rail will improve connectivity and ensure growth is spread across the region as a whole. The route update announcement, which was mentioned, was laid before us on 26 May, and set out the preferred route alignment between Bedford and Cambridge. That would serve new stations at Tempsford and Cambourne, and approach Cambridge from the south, enabling services to call at the new Cambridge South station and to serve the world-leading biomedical campus. As my hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Anthony Browne) mentioned, I was at the site a couple of weeks ago. It is absolutely fantastic; people are incredibly excited about what this railway will deliver through not just better connectivity but allowing more jobs to flow to the campus, enabling it to succeed and to take on the world’s finest. I am very excited to have been able to announce the funding.

The route update announcement is a milestone that reaffirms the Government’s commitment to the project, along with funding of £1.3 billion to deliver the first connection stage of East West Rail between Bicester and Bletchley. It is part of our national commitment to unlock transformative growth within the globally renowned Oxford-Cambridge hub of science, research and technology. It will transform connectivity for residents and businesses in addition to supporting economic growth and local housing plans. Again, I acknowledge the challenge that housing can deliver in that particular part of the country. The support from Cambridge University, biopharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca, Oxford University science park and local enterprise partnerships across the route demonstrates the confidence that key stakeholders and businesses have in the benefits of East West Rail.

With every project at this scale, important decisions must be made to optimise and maximise the benefits it can provide. The proposal to build new stations at Tempsford and Cambourne will enable communities to grow, provide opportunities to improve biodiversity and give people increasing access to green spaces, significantly outweighing the benefits that a St Neots station could provide. As I have stated, I recognise that the proposals will have an impact on some homes and businesses. In particular, I understand the concerns of residents immediately to the north of Bedford station.

The hon. Member for Bedford (Mohammad Yasin) mentioned a six-track rather than a four-track proposal. That is being put in place to regulate the disruptive performance on the existing Midland main line, as well as to mitigate congestion and provide options for future growth. It is an example of where we are building for the future, not just through East West Rail, but to deal with a spot of disruption that already exists. By going to the six-track proposal, we will deliver better infrastructure and a better service on both of those lines, though I do recognise that it has more of an impact on residents.

For local residents who are affected, East West Rail Company has launched a need to sell scheme, designed to support residents who have a compelling need to sell their property but are unable to do so other than at a substantially lower value because of the railway. On the point made by the hon. Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi) that I should meet the hon. Member for Bedford, I did that very recently. We discussed the case of one of his constituents and were able to talk about a solution. I continue to make myself available to all hon. Members on behalf of their constituents who are impacted.

East West Rail Company has also proposed to provide a new relocated station building at Bedford Midland, which will offer opportunities for local authorities to partner with East West Rail to deliver a destination station, if supported by third-party funding. Alongside that, the existing Bedford St Johns station will be relocated so that it is closer to Bedford Hospital, providing better connectivity for patients, hospital staff and visitors. Proposals for East West Rail will also mean a significant investment in the Marston Vale line between Bletchley and Bedford to provide a step change in the frequency of services.

As the House and my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire will know, East West Rail Company is holding public information events to answer the questions that have been raised by Members on behalf of their constituents. It is also meeting with stakeholders along the line of route. I will take some of the questions that have been posed, particularly by my hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire about the design stage, and get responses to them.

A statutory consultation is planned for the first half of next year, in which the next stage of technical and operational design proposals will be presented alongside plans to mitigate any associated environmental impacts. East West Rail Company has committed to delivering a 10% biodiversity net gain across the entire project, and traction options such as full electrification along the whole line of route are currently being reviewed.

Phase 1, which goes from Oxford over to Bletchley, is a mix of an existing line and one that once was a railway line. Phase 2, from Bletchley to Bedford, is an existing line. In that sense, electrification is a more difficult challenge, because bridges and other infrastructure are already in place and would have to be significantly changed. Where we have built new bridges and infrastructure, we have done so with electrification for the future in mind, so there is that pathway available to it. Of course, we are looking toward hybrid options in future as far as trains are concerned, which would enable a better, decarbonised line of route. I know all hon. Members have mentioned that point.

The business case was also referenced. As is standard for a project of this size, a final business case will be put forward once planning consent is secured. Before then, a development consent order application will be prepared in accordance with the Planning Act 2008. East West Rail demonstrates the Government’s commitment to supporting growth and improving connectivity for people and business across the Oxford and Cambridge region.

Let me come to some of the points that were raised—my hon. Friends worked hard to raise as many as they could. The first question was, will I walk the line of route? I am not sure whether that is an invitation to walk the entire line of route or selected parts of it, but I am certainly able to say yes to the former—sorry, I should say the latter. I should get that right for Hansard. Yes, I will walk parts of the line of route so that my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire can show me the areas that are impacted. Indeed, we did something similar when we looked at the options of coming into Cambridge from the north or going from Cambridge to the south, and I will of course do that in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

My hon. Friend mentioned the new Mayor, Tom Wootton. I met him and he laid out his arguments as to why he believes the line of route should come through the south rather than the north of Bedford. I have said I will write back to him to explain our thinking behind that and I am very happy to continue to liaise with him. We need to ensure that our case is the strongest case and cannot be rebutted, and that it is not only open and transparent but subject to challenges that will make it more robust. I am very keen to do that.

My hon. Friend also asked whether the National Audit Office will conduct an inquiry. We can consider that option. I always enjoyed working with the NAO when I was Chair of the Transport Committee; it has a lot of value to add when it comes to ensuring projects are built to time and cost. External assurance is provided by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, whose next review is expected before the statutory consultation. It works as an external review body for the project.

My hon. Friend asked whether I will instruct East West Rail to release the maps. We can check what further information and detail can be provided. East West Rail does not yet have a detailed design for every single area, but where it has the details, it will publish them. It has done so in the Poets area of Bedford. I am very keen that we do that at the earliest opportunity to give residents and businesses impacted by the line as much clarity and detail as possible, so I will look at that point for my hon. Friend.

My hon. Friend’s fifth point was about writing to property owners about the current corridor. East West Rail has written to property owners about the route update announcement and will engage with them further in the lead-up to the statutory consultation. Again, I am committed to ensuring that more detail is provided. I will come back to my hon. Friend on all those points and the one or two that I have not addressed because I have not had the time.

The hon. Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) asked how much money has been spent on the Oxford-to-Cambridge road that was proposed and then stopped, and how many officials are still working on it. I can tell him that £28 million was spent on the development project, and there are no officials working on it right now. I hope he is impressed with that transparency and immediacy.

My hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire asked who will be responsible for producing the business case. It is East West Rail in partnership with the DFT. We will work closely with the Treasury to make sure that is properly done in the manner that one would expect. There was talk of the theory of change exercise. That methodology is validated by the Government. We have previously discussed the fact that the Green Book is not particularly good at taking into account regeneration and decarbonisation. Changes have now been made; I welcome them because they mean that transport, and certainly rail projects, score much higher. We will of course ensure that that is rigorous, and that the preparation is transparent. I note my hon. Friend’s expertise in this area from his academic background and his business work. I am keen to work with him to ensure the business case works and is in the right form. He can take that assurance.

The hon. Member for Slough visited Winslow. I did so too, and I was actually brought up a few miles away. I am a supporter of this project because when I went to the further education college in Aylesbury, I used to go over that bridge every day, and there was nothing going on underneath it. Now, as the hon. Gentleman is aware, there is a station that will be ready to be opened shortly, and off the back of that we have the housing and the school. The secondary school in Winslow closed down. I was at secondary school in Buckingham, and all the pupils had to be bussed over. That no longer has to happen, and it is the railway that has allowed that to be built. Winslow is a good example of the fact that, if we build the infrastructure, the rest follows.

I am keen to work with the hon. Member for Slough, because it is clear that he supports East West Rail and wants it delivered. I support his support, as it were. He talked about the electrification miles that have been built, but I have to correct the record. In the past 13 years, while we have been in government, 1,200 miles of railway has been electrified. In the previous 13 years, when the Labour party was in power, the figure was a paltry 63 miles. I am sure the hon. Gentleman will not wish to give me any lessons about how to electrify lines, because we are doing that.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Dhesi
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rose

Huw Merriman Portrait Huw Merriman
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I know the hon. Gentleman is going to tell me that he will do a lot more in the future, but the trouble is that we only have Labour’s record to judge him on, not his future deeds. Go on, have a go.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Dhesi
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I would like to rebut what the Minister just said. I referred to what has been electrified in the past year, which is a mere 2.2 km of rail line. The Minister is right to point to the Conservative-led Governments’ record in the past 13 years, but having been Chair of the Transport Committee, he will also be aware that the previous Labour Government’s main priority was to invest tens of billions of pounds in our rolling stock to get rid of the old, inefficient trains that we inherited from the previous Conservative Government after 18 years of grinding public transport to a halt. Having got the rolling stock back up to full speed, the last decade has been a lost decade for electrification, which is what other European Governments have done. That is why I said that the Minister and the Conservative Government have been failing on electrification.

Huw Merriman Portrait Huw Merriman
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

That was more than an intervention. The reality is—

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Dhesi
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It was a reality check!

Huw Merriman Portrait Huw Merriman
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am impressed with that argument, actually, that rather than electrifying lines—I am a big supporter of that, and we want to and will do more, as we have done 1,200 miles whereas, as I pointed out, in the previous 13 years Labour had done 63—there was a priority focus on rolling stock. That really is pulling the other one. We have been doing both during that whole process. If the hon. Member has been on an Azuma train, he will know full well that they have been delivered under our—

Oral Answers to Questions

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts
Thursday 8th June 2023

(9 months, 3 weeks ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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I call the shadow Minister.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
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I, too, convey my condolences to the families of the victims of the harrowing rail disaster in India.

The Government’s management of HS2 could hardly be worse: the budget has ballooned out of all proportion; we are already years behind on the launch of services; the merry-go-round of Ministers has created chaos; and the project at Euston station may never see the light of day. The six-monthly update to Parliament is already months late. We are none the wiser about the promised excellent alternative to the cancelled Golborne link, and we have been waiting years for the review into the best way to run HS2 to Leeds after this Government betrayed the north by scrapping the eastern leg. It appears that trickle-down economics has been replaced by trickle-down incompetence. Rather than the usual woolly ministerial responses of “coming soon to a station near you” and rather than responding to all of these failures, can the Minister answer just one simple question: when will the Leeds area study finally be published?

Huw Merriman Portrait Huw Merriman
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

The ministerial merry-go-round goes round to a Merriman to listen to yet another long-winded effort from the hon. Gentleman, which eventually turns into a question. The reality is that we remain committed to HS2 and to line of route from London all the way up to Manchester. He talks about ballooning costs, but we have tried to look at the cost estimate and rephase HS2 as a result. He cannot have it both ways. I am committed to ensuring that the study comes out very soon; I met with my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to work on the matter and we work closely together. Our aim is to ensure that when that study comes out, it has the imagination in it to deliver properly all the ideas that we had always intended, and we will do so. We are committed to HS2 and to the investment and decarbonisation it will bring. I am sorry there has been a change of Ministers, but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that there will not be any changes any time soon.

Heathrow Airport Expansion

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts
Wednesday 24th May 2023

(10 months, 1 week ago)

Westminster Hall
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Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.

Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.

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Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Portrait Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing today’s important debate on Heathrow airport expansion. No talk of expansion can be complete without first addressing the surface access requirements to decongest the roads around Heathrow and to improve the environment. More than a decade ago, the Government committed to building the western rail link to Heathrow. The successful business case was predicated on a two-runway scenario. A third runway, if it was built, would make the scheme critical; however, not a single spade has been dug into the ground. Does my hon. Friend agree that this No. 1 infrastructure priority for the Thames valley region, which has the support of the Welsh Government and others in the south and west—including in my Slough constituency—must finally be built without further procrastination by the Government?

Fleur Anderson Portrait Fleur Anderson
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I thank my hon. Friend for his helpful intervention. An expanded Heathrow would see an additional 175,000 trips every day. That is more than the daily rail arrivals to the whole of Birmingham, yet the proposal does not have a plan for how to deal with it. I shall say more on that later. My hon. Friend is absolutely right.

What about green aviation? We are told that green aviation and green tech will catch up. Are we close to the breakthrough in alternative fuels, carbon capture or battery-powered planes that would make an expanded Heathrow sustainable and viable? No, we are not. In 2010, the aviation industry pledged to source 10% of its fuels from sustainable sources by 2020. We are in 2023; how is that going? Only 0.05% are sustainable fuels. There are no electric aircraft currently in development that could be commercially viable for long-haul flights. The green aviation revolution that could make the Heathrow expansion environmentally viable is a long way from taking off.

So what is the case against? I will talk about climate change, air quality, noise and transport. First, on climate change, the expansion is fundamentally incompatible with the Government’s own net zero target. Heathrow is the largest single polluter in the UK. Its emissions account for half of all UK aviation emissions. Its expansion proposals of 260,000 additional flights a year, on top of the existing 480,000, will increase carbon dioxide emissions from air travel by a staggering 9 million tonnes a year. As I said, that is more than the entire carbon emissions of Luxembourg.

The Government recently published their jet zero strategy; is that the answer? No. The strategy makes no attempt to set out what share of the transport carbon budget the aviation sector should be allocated or how that would be divided between airports, and it fails to articulate circumstances in which airport expansions could be compatible with climate change targets. Heathrow is just one of many airports across the UK with ambitions to expand, yet the Government has no overarching framework to guide airport expansion plans throughout the country.