Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the government has plans to improve parking, access and customer experience at Mills Hill and Moston train stations; and whether there any plans to bring forward a programme to reopen previously closed stations such as the former Middleton Junction station.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Rail North Partnership between the Department and Transport for the North has regular discussions with Northern, which manages Mills Hill and Moston train stations, on its performance, customer experience and improving services.
There are no proposals or plans regarding the reintroduction of Middleton Junction station. Between 2022-23 and 2026-27, we are providing £1.07bn of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding to Greater Manchester to invest in their local transport network. Beyond that, we have confirmed a £2.5billion Transport for City Regions settlement for Greater Manchester providing funding up to 2031-32. It is for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to decide how to invest the funding locally.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding her Department has allocated to improving the resilience of passenger rail services on the North Devon branch line in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail has spent £2.9 million between 2017/18 and 2024/25 on scour protection works on bridges and retaining walls along the North Devon line. In addition, an average of £18,000 per year has been spent over the past ten years carrying out maintenance works to structure inverts, scour protection and removing tree debris trapped against bridges following a flood.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment has been made of the reliability of regional rail services serving the North East.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Rail North Partnership, through which the Department and Transport for the North jointly manage Northern Trains’ and TransPennine Express’ contracts, works closely with these operators, as the Department does with intercity operators, and Mayor McGuiness to deliver the reliable services passengers in the North East want and deserve, taking account of operational and financial constraints on operators and the network.
Asked by: Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they have taken to boost cross-border economic growth between England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Economic growth is the central mission of the government. We work closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that Wales, like all parts of the United Kingdom, plays a full part in this mission and benefits from our modern Industrial Strategy, with higher living standards delivered across the country.
As part of this mission, the government is investing in projects that will drive growth across Wales. Alongside rail commitments announced at the last Spending Review, we have recently announced that Anglesey in North Wales will pioneer the UK’s first small modular reactors at Wylfa, with £2.5 billion of UK Government funding. This represents the most significant industrial investment in North Wales in a generation. The project is expected to support up to 3,000 jobs at peak construction and provide power for up to three million homes. Alongside this announcement, we have designated a new AI Growth Zone at the Anglesey Freeport, as well as another in South Wales.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Cutting-edge rail ticket technology to be trialled across the Midlands and North, published on 1 September 2025, for what reason nationalised all rail services are not involved in the trial.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Trial locations were primarily selected based on them not having existing or planned Pay as You Go schemes, there being a significant commuter demographic, and where existing fares structures supported trial delivery. As a result, the lead operators are East Midlands Railway and Northern, supported by Cross Country and LNER as needed.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the press release entitled Cutting-edge rail ticket technology to be trialled across the Midlands and North, published on 1 September 2025, for what reason East Midlands Rail and Northern were selected for that trial.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The routes in the East Midlands and Yorkshire operated by East Midlands Railway and Northern were selected as being areas of the rail network that do not have existing or planned Pay-As-You-Go schemes and with large enough passenger numbers to give statistically significant results, a significant commuter demographic, and where existing fares structures supported trial delivery.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the press release entitled Cutting-edge rail ticket technology to be trialled across the Midlands and North, published on 1 September 2025, how she plans to measure the success of that trial.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
An independent evaluation of the Digital Pay-As-You-Go trials, including the one on East Midlands Railway between Leicester, Derby and Nottingham, has been commissioned. The trial is currently expected to end in 2027, and we intend to publish the findings in due course.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders on improving step- free access for train stations in the North East.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department continues to work closely with Network Rail, train operators and local authorities to improve step-free access at stations across the North East.
For example, the Transpennine Route Upgrade will provide step free access at 22 stations. A number of stations in the region have been made accessible with funding from the Access for All programme, including Northallerton and Middlesborough railway stations.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders on tackling harassment on public transport against women and girls in the North East.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department is working across government and with partners, including the British Transport Police (BTP), the transport industry and local authorities to ensure that everyone feels and is safe when travelling. And, as part of that, I meet with a range of stakeholders from across the country to discuss issues across my portfolio, including the safety of women and girls on public transport.
Last month, the Department and Greater Manchester Combined Authority jointly hosted a Safer Streets, Safer Transport Summit which brought together representatives from across the transport industry, Government, local authorities (including the North East Combined Authority), the third sector and policing to commit to taking action against anti-social behaviour (ASB) and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
As part of the Government’s aims to reduce VAWG by half over the next decade, the Department has an ambitious, evidence-based programme of work to help tackle VAWG on transport. This includes measures in the Bus Services Act 2025 such as training on how to recognise and respond to incidents of criminal and anti-social behaviour. The Act also enables all Local Transport Authorities to introduce byelaws to tackle ASB on vehicles, as well as within and at bus-related infrastructure (for example bus stations).
The Department supports BTP’s zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment and sexual offences. This includes using a range of policing techniques to pursue offenders on the rail network to ensure it remains a safe environment and encourage reporting of incidents via BTP’s 61016 text number or 999 in an emergency.
BTP officers in the North East attend the local Safer Transport Regional Group and the Violence Against Women and Girls on Transport Partnership Working Group, strengthening collaboration with partners and focusing joint efforts on preventing these offences.
BTP also deliver numerous public campaigns to increase VAWG reporting across the network including in the North East. The Rail Delivery Group also delivers its ‘zero tolerance’ campaign, which is aimed at educating people about the different types of sexual harassment and encouraging reporting to the BTP or anonymously to crime stoppers.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 27 October (HL11342), what were the forecast effects of (1) the Elizabeth Line, and (2) Worcestershire Parkway Station prior to their opening; and what are the latest measured effects of those schemes.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The forecast effects and latest measured effects of the Elizabeth Line are set out in two post-opening evaluation reports published in 2024 and 2025. Both reports can be found on the Transport for London website.
In summary, the evaluation evidence finds that the Elizabeth Line has had positive impact on both employment growth and housing growth, although the impacts have not been uniform across all areas. The evaluation finds that between 2015 and 2023, employment growth around Elizabeth line stations consistently outperformed the total London average (25% growth around Elizabeth line stations compared to 14% in London). The growth in jobs and connectivity has been accompanied by a surge in housebuilding. 71,000 new homes have been delivered around Elizabeth line stations since 2015. By 2024, the residential property stock around inner London Elizabeth line stations increased by 19% compared to 10% for all inner London.
The forecast effects of the opening of the Worcestershire Parkway Station were expected to be: (i) reducing road congestion and road vehicle carbon emissions by reducing road vehicle usage; (ii) address Worcestershire's poor accessibility to and from London arising from the limited frequency and length of journey time of North Cotswold Line services; (iii) transform access to the rail network for Worcestershire passengers; and (iv) tackle Worcestershire's exclusion from the Cross Country network (Bristol-Birmingham-North West/North East).
No post-opening evaluation of Worcestershire Parkway Station has as yet been carried out. However, latest measured impacts of the station are assessed as:
Passenger numbers: Over 2 million journeys in five years, far exceeding forecasts.
Carbon impact: Achieved carbon neutrality within five years; saves ~1.8 million kgCO₂e annually.
Economic and transport role: Significant modal shift to rail, reducing congestion and supporting sustainable travel; demand strong enough to trigger plans for car park expansion and service enhancements.