Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2021 to Question 174247, what changes in (a) services and (b) safety procedures have been made by (i) South Western Railway, (ii) southeastern and (iii) Southern since the easing of covid-19 restrictions on 12 April 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
From 12 April, train operating companies have increased their service levels from 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels to around 75 per cent. With Government support, operators continue to refine their safety procedures including advice to the public about social distancing, the cleaning of trains and stations, and the wearing of face coverings.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2021 to Question 174247, what changes in (a) services and (b) safety procedures have been made by (i) London North Eastern Railway, (ii) Northern and (iii) TransPennine Express since the easing of covid-19 restrictions on 12 April 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
From 12 April, train operating companies have increased their service levels from 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels to around 75 per cent. With Government support, operators continue to refine their safety procedures including advice to the public about social distancing, the cleaning of trains and stations, and the wearing of face coverings.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2021 to Question 174247, what changes in (a) services and (b) safety procedures have been made by (i) East Midland Railway, (ii) Great Northern and (iii) ThamesLink since the easing of covid-19 restrictions on 12 April 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
From 12 April, train operating companies have increased their service levels from 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels to around 75 per cent. With Government support, operators continue to refine their safety procedures including advice to the public about social distancing, the cleaning of trains and stations, and the wearing of face coverings.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2021 to Question 174247, what changes in (a) services and (b) safety procedures have been made by (i) Chiltern Railways, (ii) Great Western Railway and (iii) Heathrow Express since the easing of covid-19 restrictions on 12 April 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
From 12 April, train operating companies have increased their service levels from 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels to around 75 per cent. With Government support, operators continue to refine their safety procedures including advice to the public about social distancing, the cleaning of trains and stations, and the wearing of face coverings.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2021 to Question 174247, what changes in (a) services and (b) safety procedures have been made by (i) c2c, (ii) Greater Anglia and (iii) Stansted Express since the easing of covid-19 restrictions on 12 April 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
From 12 April, train operating companies have increased their service levels from 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels to around 75 per cent. With Government support, operators continue to refine their safety procedures including advice to the public about social distancing, the cleaning of trains and stations, and the wearing of face coverings.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2021 to Question 174247, what changes in (a) services and (b) safety procedures have been made by (i) Avanti West Coast, (ii) London Northwestern Railway and (iii) West Midlands Railway since the easing of covid-19 restrictions on 12 April 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
From 12 April, train operating companies have increased their service levels from 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels to around 75 per cent. With Government support, operators continue to refine their safety procedures including advice to the public about social distancing, the cleaning of trains and stations, and the wearing of face coverings.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2021 to Question 174247, what changes in (a) services and (b) safety procedures have been made by (i) CrossCountry and (ii) Merseyrail since the easing of covid-19 restrictions on 12 April 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
From 12 April, train operating companies have increased their service levels from 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels to around 75 per cent. With Government support, operators continue to refine their safety procedures including advice to the public about social distancing, the cleaning of trains and stations, and the wearing of face coverings.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that covid-19 social distancing measures are being adhered to on the rail network; and what steps he is taking to improve adherence to those measures for (a) rail workers, (b) key workers and (c) other passengers.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
From 12 April, operators have increased service levels to around 75% of pre-pandemic levels to reflect the expected increase in demand. There will be a further increase on 17 May, when operators will start to run as close to a full service as possible, recognising that some essential COVID protocols, such as extra cleaning, places constraints on the levels of service that can be run reliably.
In stations across the country, the industry has taken active steps to encourage passengers to practice social distancing, such as train and station announcements, and floor stickers. We have been working closely with operators to ensure that there are appropriate procedures in place, which are communicated clearly to passengers. For instance, passengers are urged to use the whole length of the train to board to avoid overcrowding in one carriage. Operators are continuing to explore ways to promote social distancing further through other methods, such as Advance ticket purchases and ‘reservation only’ seats.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to help ensure the safety of rail workers as covid-19 restrictions are eased.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
As COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, the safety of all rail workers and passengers continues to be our priority. We have issued comprehensive guidance to train operators on the steps they need to take to protect staff in line with Public Health England advice, as well as safer travel guidance for passengers, both of which are regularly reviewed and updated.
Operators are planning to increase service levels in line with the roadmap and the levels of demand observed on the network, alongside taking active steps to encourage social distancing and manage passenger flows with crowd management plans and ability to draw on additional staff if needed.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the RSSB report, Covid Transmission Rates on Rail, published in August 2020, what recent assessment his Department has made of the level of covid-19 transmission on rail journeys.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department for Transport’s decisions continue to be informed by the most up-to-date scientific evidence and advice, including advice from SAGE, its sub-groups, industry and academia.
The Department is working hard and collaborating across the UK’s research and innovation community, including with Rail Safety and Standards Board, to build and assess a broad base of evidence to better understand transmission and interventions that help reduce transmission risk. This includes working with SAGE, industry and academia on the Transport Risk Assessment for COVID Knowledge (TRACK) project. This is an 18-month, £2 million UK Research and Innovation-funded project designed to address critical knowledge gaps around transmission of SARS-CoV-2 on public transport, including on rail. Outputs from this project will continue to help inform decisions and practices for mitigating risk of transmission in public transport.