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 20 December 2023 (HL1202), what specific action they have taken to make additional rolling stock available to the train operator, and whether actual or potential consequent loss of revenue is considered when such decisions are made.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Cross Country trains are continuing discussions with the rolling stock market and it is hoped that confirmation of its future fleet will be made public in due course. In assessing the Business Case for additional train fleet, actual or potential loss of revenue is one of the factors that are considered in making such decisions.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to address inadequate accommodation on services between Cardiff and London, and whether that shortage is the responsibility of the train operator or the rolling stock provider.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The vast majority of GWR services between London and Cardiff are operated by its Hitachi Intercity Express Train (IET) fleet. Under the terms of its National Rail Contract, GWR must use its rolling stock to deliver a consistent, efficient service. GWR review loading and capacity data to try and ensure appropriate formations and fleets for passengers.
In recent times, however, GWR have experienced challenges with both their IET fleet availability and the reliability of network infrastructure which means they are not always able to operate the optimum formations and fleets for passengers. A number of IETs have been out of operation due to significant damage including long-term crack repairs, engine issues and water ingress. The Department is engaged with GWR and Network Rail to seek improvements to the situation and secure a level of service which taxpayers expect and deserve.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with the operator to address the shortage of accommodation on railway services between the Thames Valley and the North, including by making some more of the rolling stock currently in store available.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Officials meet regularly with train operators. Under the new National Rail Contract that commenced in October, additional carriages are due to be added to the CrossCountry train fleet in the next few years, as they become available in the rolling stock market. It is for operators to determine how best to match capacity to expected passenger demand on individual services making the most efficient use of the train fleet available to them.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussion they are having with East Midlands Railways about restoring the pre-pandemic levels of service between Nottingham and Lincoln.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport is working closely with East Midlands Railway to reintroduce services which were removed in June 2021.
In May, six weekday services and eight Saturday services between Leicester and Lincoln via Nottingham were reinstated.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Hitachi about using spare capacity in their Newton Aycliffe plant to improve the ride quality of their trains used by Great Western Railway Trains.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has been in regular dialogue with Hitachi with regards to the use of its Newton Aycliffe facility. The Department works with the train operator in their monitoring of ride quality.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department for Transport considers net revenue implications when making decisions that relate to the capacity of railway services.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department considers a range of factors, including both revenue and cost (i.e. the impact on the taxpayer) when making decisions, including those that relate to the capacity of railway services.
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 Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 26 October (10507), what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the existing appraisal methodology developed by Leeds ITS to assess the impact of the opening of new railway stations; and whether they have any plans to allow other contractors to develop new methodology for such purposes.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are aware and welcome the work by Leeds ITS. It is a valued contribution on station appraisal. We are reviewing our guidance in this area which we will update in due course.
As with all areas of transport appraisal, suppliers are welcome to innovate and develop their own approaches providing they are well justified and evidence based.
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 Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 27 September (HL10352), what plans they have in concluding future negotiations with train providers to bear a proportion of the costs that train operators face as a consequence of failing to provide quality service to rail customers.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are currently no plans to negotiate any variations to the Intercity Express Programme’s contracts with Agility to extend the incentive regime. The contracted arrangements for instances where full service provision is not offered are contained in the existing contracts, as articulated in previous responses.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the usage figures for Worcestershire Parkway station, published on 8 September, which showed that despite the COVID-19 pandemic a volume of journeys from the station had been reached that was not expected to have been achieved for another 11 years, what assessment they have made of the continued need for the Department for Transport to use Transport Analysis Guidance monitoring systems for assessing the likely value of new railway stations.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The business case for Worcestershire Parkway forecasted a range of demand scenarios to account for uncertainty around the modelling. These included different assumptions on external events, expectations for housing growth and level of abstraction from surrounding stations. We are due to receive a report on the station’s performance from Worcester County Council. We will work through the findings on the differences between the forecasted demand and actual performance and use this to help inform future stations appraisals.
The Transport Analysis Guidance continues to be recommended best practice for transport appraisal. We recognise the analytical challenges associated with forecasting demand for new stations, and valuing the benefits they bring. Following research carried out by Leeds ITS for Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), published on their websites research catalogue as "Rail Openings Appraisal (COF-ECO-ROA)", we are reviewing our guidance in this area and plan to bring forward improvements to it in future.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to introduce a pilot scheme to abolish peak-time railway fares, similar to that introduced by ScotRail with funding from the Scottish Government.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are no current plans to introduce a pilot scheme to abolish peak time railway fares in England. Peak and off-peak fares are an important tool to manage demand and alleviate crowding on peak time services by encouraging those who can travel off-peak to do so.
In recent years, we have introduced several initiatives to support passengers and improve affordability of rail. We have successfully launched flexible season tickets to support commuters’ return to the rail following the pandemic. We have also saved a generation of passengers a third off their fares through the 16-17 and 26-30 Railcards and went even further in November 2020 by extending these savings to former servicemen and women through a new Veterans Railcard.
We are now rolling out single leg pricing to most of London North Eastern Railway’s (LNER’s) network following a successful trial. We will carefully consider the impacts of expanding single leg pricing to most of LNER’s network before taking decisions on any wider extension.