Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the quality and timeliness of information for passengers produced on the Southern rail network following the failure of services on 2 July.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
It is the responsibility of the operator and Network Rail to ensure that passenger information is accurate and given in a timely manner. When operational incidents occur that cause service disruption, such as on 2nd July, the Department for Transport expects that information is provided to passengers as quickly as possible in order that they can make informed decisions.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they provide to rail companies about the provision of rail replacement services in the event of a failure of train services.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Department for Transport requires operators to use all reasonable endeavours to provide alternative transport arrangements. The franchise agreement sets expectations for the quality of any alternative service that should be offered to passengers.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to conduct a review of the relationship between Network Rail and rail franchising companies with an action plan to improve (1) services, and (2) provision of information to passengers.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government 2017 paper, Connecting People: A Strategic Vision for Rail, already sets out the specific actions that the government is taking to improve services to passengers, including closer working relationships between Network Rail and train operating companies, continuing high levels of investment and an improved experience for passengers.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is currently conducting two reviews into rail timetabling issues. As part of these reviews they are considering the roles played by the various participant parties in the rail sector, including Network Rail and franchise operators, in the provision of services and information about services to passengers. ORR will publish its conclusions and any recommendations in due course. Further information about the reviews is available on the ORR’s website: orr.gov.uk
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the amount of compensation Southern and Govia Thameslink Railway expect to pay to passengers following the network failure on 2 July.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Department for Transport has not made an estimate of the amount of compensation Southern, which is part of the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) network, expects to pay for the disruption on Monday 2 July. GTR and the Department encourage passengers to claim the Delay Repay compensation for any delays over 15 minutes.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 18 June (HL8241), what steps, if any, they are taking to obtain from National Rail the level of compensation paid to Train Operating Companies for each year since 2010 to mitigate the loss of revenue in ticket sales.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Compensation is paid by Network Rail (NR) to Train Operating Companies for planned disruption on the network (Schedule 4 Payments) and, depending on the actual performance of both Network Rail and the train operator, Network Rail may pay compensation for unplanned disruption (Schedule 8 payments).
NR publish this information from 2011/12 at the link below under ‘Payments for disruption on the railway made under schedule 8’ and ‘Payments for planned disruption on the railway made under schedule 4 and the corresponding ACS’.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/transparency-and-ethics/transparency/datasets/
Please note that these values in these tables are based on the invoices Network Rail have received up until November 2017 and are therefore subject to change, as and when historic disputes are settled.
I attach those tables for ease.
For 2010/11 the figures can be found in Network Rail’s regulatory accounts at the link below under ‘Regulatory accounts archive 2002-2016’.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/publications-resources/financial/
For ease I have replicated the figures below:
Schedule 4 net cost in 2010/11 £128m
Schedule 8 net cost in 2010/11 £56m
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the assessment made in the London and South Coast Rail Corridor Study conducted for the Department for Transport, how much they estimate restoring the Uckfield to Lewes rail line would cost.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
High-level estimated costs to reinstate closed rail lines between Lewes and Uckfield range from £150m to over £1billion, depending on scope of the scheme. The London & South Coast Rail Corridor Study concluded there is no case for Government to progress development, but interested parties, including local authorities, may wish to work to improve the viability of such schemes. Any proposal presented to Government would need to be consistent with the new rail network enhancement pipeline.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much they estimate has been lost in rail revenues due to running rail replacement services on the Brighton Main Line in each year since 2010.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Department for Transport does not hold data on lost revenue to this level of detail. However, as part of agreed industry practice, Network Rail pays compensation to Train Operating Companies to mitigate the loss in passenger income suffered as a result of its infrastructure and engineering works.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether ministers took into account current or past performance as a criteria when awarding Virgin Trains East Coast the East Coast franchise; and if so, what weight was given to performance criteria.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Past performance is evaluated for all prospective franchisees at the Pre-Qualification stage when suppliers are short listed for a competition. For the East Coast competition, this was set out in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire which was published in October 2013. The evaluation criteria for the award of the InterCity East Coast franchise are set out in the Invitation to Tender which was published in March 2014. The Invitation To Tender sets out five Delivery Plans, each of which contains a series of requirements against which bids were evaluated, with appropriate weightings. Contract award was made following an evaluation of bids against these requirements.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they will take to prevent further deterioration of Southern Rail services.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Prior to the start of the industrial action by the RMT on Southern, the performance on this route was improving; we urge the union in the strongest terms to get round the table and end this unjustified action which is harming passengers.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to give guidance to the operator of Southern Rail services on ensuring passenger safety when short formation services are in use.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Each operator is responsible for the safety of their staff, passengers and services. The Office of Rail and Road’s duty is to ensure that those responsible for keeping Britain's railways safe for passengers and providing a safe place for staff to work do so.