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 Davies of Gower on 29 April (HL3879), whether the latest announcement about the postponement of the introduction of an updated timetable for the East Coast Mainline Railway is due to the Office of Rail and Road's rigidity in agreeing access rights, which cannot be made flexible with the train operators' agreement.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Timetable production and access rights issues are governed by Network Rail’s Network Code, which is regulated by the Office of Rail and Road. We expect the rail industry to work through these issues in order to deliver the upgraded timetable and realise the benefits of £4bn investment in track and train.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the revised timetable for the East Coast Main Line will be delivered by December 2024.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are disappointed with the deferment of the East Coast Main Line timetable upgrade which cannot be delivered robustly in December 2024.
The industry steering group that oversees timetable introduction concluded that there are too many outstanding issues to have confidence in the upgrade being ready in 2024.
It is important that Network Rail continues to develop a process for delivering the upgraded timetable and realising the benefits of £4 billion investment in track and train.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to develop a recovery strategy for rail routes on which reduced services following the COVID-19 pandemic but have now recouped revenue and passenger numbers.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As the pandemic has changed travel habits, train operators are using this opportunity to reassess their services to provide rail timetables that respond to new passenger travel patterns, and carefully balance cost, capacity and performance.
Timetables should be demand-led and built with flexibility in mind, so if passenger numbers increase as we continue to recover from the pandemic, we can look to accommodate additional services. Where operators have modified their timetables, the changes are kept under review and, where appropriate, adjusted to reflect fluctuations in demand. Additional services will be included in the upcoming timetable change.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the performance of open-access operators compares with the major operator of services on the routes which they share.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Office of Rail and Road collects and publishes data on cancellations, reliability and punctuality of all rail operators, including Open Access operators. This is set out in the attached table.