Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their Great British Railway white paper (CP423), published on 20 May, what annual savings they expect to make in respect of (1) delay attribution, (2) franchise agreements, (3) key train requirements, (4) ticketing and settlement agreements, (5) any other benefits.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
One of the major benefits of bringing the railways together will be to reduce fragmented decision-making. Great British Railways will be able to make substantial net savings without detriment to service or fare levels by reducing duplication, interface costs and complexity. This will include better planning of track and infrastructure works and many other operations currently subject to negotiation between Network Rail and train operating companies.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their Great British Railway white paper (CP423), published on 20 May, what role they see for private sector open access operators in the new structure for the passenger railway; and who will decide (1) whether such operators will be permitted, (2) the timetable to which they will operate, and (3) the fares they can charge.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Establishing Great British Railways will enable open access operators to benefit from national co-ordination and new safeguards.
The government will consult and work with partners, including open access operators, on the development and implementation of a new rules-based access system, underpinned by legislation.
The Office of Rail and Road will also act as an appeals body for operators. It will be able to direct Great British Railways to change its decision where it has not applied its track access and charging policies fairly.
New and existing open access services will be able to operate in the future. As now they will be able to apply for train paths and set their own fares.
We will make an announcement on next steps in relation to how GBR manages the infrastructure including the processes it will undertake when making access decisions in due course.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) performance measures and (b) regulatory framework the Great British Railways body will operate within covering (i) infrastructure, (ii) operations and (iii) track access arrangements.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Strong measures and structures will be put in place to ensure Great British Railways is accountable, transparent and reflective of its need to serve passengers, freight customers and taxpayers.
Funding streams will be conditional on meeting Great British Railways' mandate for delivering customer needs and making efficiency improvements.
Great British Railways will be subject to a series of mandates, including to operate in the interests of passengers, freight customers and local communities.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will scrutinise Great British Railways’ delivery of its objectives across the business, and will provide expert advice to the Secretary of State and devolved administrations. ORR will have powers to require improvement plans, encourage best practice and support problem solving across the sector. They will also act as an appeals body for operators, able to direct Great British Rail to change its decision where it has not applied its track access and charging policies fairly.
The government will consult with partners across the rail industry on the development and implementation of the new rules-based track access system. We will make an announcement on next steps in due course.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the creation of Great British Railways on rail services in south east London.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Rail services in south east London will benefit from the creation of Great British Railways. Great British Railways, will provide strong unified leadership across the rail network, bringing ownership of the infrastructure, fares, timetables and planning the network under one roof.
Passenger-focused reforms will bring in improved services, with new Passenger Service Contracts focused on getting the trains running punctually and reliably.
In London and the South East, a new strategic partnership will be established to support housing, economic growth and the environment across the highly interconnected transport network in that part of the country. This will bring together Great British Railways, TfL and local authorities and businesses to coordinate timetabling and investments and to provide a consistent passenger experience in areas such as accessibility, ticketing and communications.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the proposal that the Office of Rail and Road will publish data on rail workers salaries in the policy paper entitled Great British Railways: Williams-Shapps plan for rail, published by his Department on 20 May 2021, whether that data will include salaries of (a) employees of Great British Railways, (b) employees of operators of Passenger Service Contracts, (c) subcontracted staff on passenger service contracts, (d) employees of railway infrastructure sub-contractors, (e) workers on zero hours contracts, (f) railway infrastructure workers who are classified as self-employed, (g) agency railway workers, (h) workers on zero hours contracts and (i) employees of open access operators.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
A modern and sustainable rail industry will benefit from increased transparency and the ability to compare its practices with similar sectors.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the creation of Great British Railways on tickets prices for commuters using National Rail lines in Enfield North constituency.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
On 20th May, government published Great British Railways: The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail – a blueprint for a more customer focused, reliable and growing railway. The biggest reform and simplification of our railways in 30 years will bring “track and train” together under single national leadership in a new public body – Great British Railways – accountable to ministers. Great British Railways will own the infrastructure, collect fare revenue, run and plan the network, set the timetable and most fares.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to safeguard the Holyhead to London line as part of the proposed reorganisation of Rail Services in England .
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 20th May, Government published Great British Railways: The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail – a blueprint for a more customer focused, reliable and growing railway. The biggest reform and simplification of our railways in 30 years will bring “track and train” together under single national leadership in a new public body – Great British Railways – accountable to ministers. Great British Railways will own the infrastructure, collect fare revenue, run and plan the network, set the timetable and most fares.
As set out in The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, a joint working agreement between Transport for Wales and Great British Railways will be explored to improve the rail offer in Wales.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many rail workers were killed on Network Rail's infrastructure between June 2019 and November 2020.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Between June 2019 and November 2020, four Network Rail workers tragically lost their lives while working on rail infrastructure owned and managed by Network Rail. On 3rd July 2019, two Network Rail track workers were struck by a train at Margam, South Wales. On 8th April 2020, a Network Rail contractor was struck by a train at Roade, Northamptonshire. On 30th November 2020, a Network Rail employee was crushed by machinery at a depot in Eastleigh, Hampshire.
Ensuring the safety of the rail workforce and reducing the risk of fatalities is a priority for Government and the rail industry. The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) identified workforce safety as a key part of its ‘Leading Health and Safety on Britain’s Railways’ strategy, which aims to ensure greater consistency in planning and implementing safe systems of work, more use of digital technology to reduce risk, and improved monitoring, supervision and assurance. In July 2019, Network Rail launched its track worker safety task force, aimed at reducing the risk of track worker fatalities. This task force is investing £70m to improve the planning and delivery of work at the trackside, through the development and design of new protection and warning systems, improved training for managers, and measures to reduce fatigue and improve the wellbeing of staff. This work is being undertaken in collaboration with the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), trade unions and Network Rail’s own contractors.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the level of construction materials available to rail infrastructure projects.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The availability of construction materials is regularly reviewed by High Speed Two (HS2) Limited, Network Rail, and the Department for Transport. Our latest assessments do not currently predict an impact on the cost and schedule ranges, published in the HS2 March 2021 Parliamentary Report, or Network Rail’s Control Period Budget.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of introducing infrastructure changes to ensure all train journeys in the UK were fully accessible.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Further measures to improve rail accessibility will be included in the forthcoming rail reform White Paper, to build on progress already made – around 75% of rail journeys are now through step-free stations, which compares with only 50% in 2005.