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 20 September (HL10070), whether, when a train is not provided or runs in reduced formation (such as having five carriages instead of ten), the revenue of the train provider is reduced proportionately; and whether there is provision for the train provider to pay liquidated damages to the train operator to compensate them for the reputational damage and for any compensation paid to passengers in such cases.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Intercity Express Programme contracts requires the daily provision of trains of the correct formation to operate the planned timetable.
As there has been full transfer of delivery risk passed to the train supplier, when a train provided that is shorter than that planned there is a reduction in the lease charge.
The effect of this is that Hitachi will suffer the financial impact of these circumstances arising from the loss of income.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in relation to contracts to supply railway rolling stock as part of the Intercity Express Programme, whether Hitachi is required to provide sufficient serviceable trains to meet the timetable commitments of train operators; and if so, whether Hitachi is required to pay compensation to train operators when it fails to do so, whether this applies for every affected journey, and whether this includes liquidated damages to compensate for loss to the train operator's business, including loss incurred by refunding passengers for poor service.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Intercity Express Programme contracts requires the daily provision of train sets sufficient to operate the planned timetable.
As there has been full transfer of delivery risk passed to the train supplier, when a train is not provided there is no charge.
The effect of this is that Hitachi will suffer the financial impact of these circumstances arising from the loss of income.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the overcrowding on trains operating between the Thames Valley and the Midlands.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
CrossCountry has increased the number of services on this route as part of its timetable re-organisation in May 2023, although some trains have become busier as a result.
We expect CrossCountry to monitor this and seek opportunities to mitigate it in future. The Department is working on a new contract for CrossCountry. Subject to demonstrating an appropriate business case, the intention is that this will facilitate increased capacity on CrossCountry routes in future.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much is spent at present in subsidies for rail freight, including for the development of express parcel delivery traffic.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Domestic and international rail freight services are private operations run on a commercial basis. The Government provides some limited support in specific areas.
The Government incentivises modal shift from road to rail through the £20 million per year Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme.
The Government provided £2.155 million to rail freight projects through the First of a kind competition for cutting edge ideas to help transform the railway. These projects include rail freight express parcel delivery.
DfT also contributes to some of the Operations, Maintenance and Renewals Charges (OMRC) charges for international freight trains using the Channel Tunnel under the terms of the commercial agreements which established the Channel Tunnel. This amount is variable but is approximately £13m per year.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much per annum is allocated to road building in England, as opposed to maintenance.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
For the Strategic Road Network, funding for enhancements, which includes junction improvements and widening schemes as well as new roads has been allocated as follows as part of the Road Investment Strategy.
£m | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Total |
| 2,027 | 1,773 | 1,983 | 2,228 | 2,474 | 10,485 |
For local roads funding varies depending on progress with individual local authority schemes and the amount would vary from year to year. In some cases schemes do not progress to construction due to low or poor value for money. The current forecast spend from 2023/24 onwards is as per the table below but these are liable to change as various schemes update their financial information.
£m | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Total |
| 115.2 | 156.38 | 168.51 | 339.48 | 853.80 | 1,633.37 |
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much it would cost to reduce public transport fares by (1) 30 per cent, and (2) 40 per cent, taking into account the likely increase in passenger numbers.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department does not have this information available.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they estimate would have been needed to supplement the bus service improvement plans called for in March 2021 if the submissions of the local transport authorities had been implemented in full.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The total amount of funding requested by Local Transport Authorities for Bus Service Improvement Plans was £13.02bn. This figure includes all schemes, including those beyond the BSIP funding period.
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 The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT)’s Freight Electrification Map Commentary, published on 2 March, which found that “electrifying [these] ‘infill’ sections, which total less than 60 miles, would allow around 2 million train miles a year to be decarbonised”; and what plans they have to adopt that recommendation.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are in the process of reviewing the report and its findings. It is too early to say whether we have any plans to adopt the recommendations.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that any call for evidence they launch into road transport law would reference the substantial body of transport legislation that would be affected by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Officials across the Department for Transport are reviewing the stock of Retained EU Law relevant to road transport. As a part of this process, road transport law that is in scope of the Retained EU Law Bill is being reviewed to ensure that it is effective and fit for purpose. The Department will share more information on individual pieces of regulation in due course, whilst also ensuring it provides the information to keep the public Retained EU Law dashboard updated.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the cost of long distance railway fares; and what assessment they have made of the possibility of tapering the cost per mile of journeys after a certain distance for long distance fares
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Rail fares are influenced by multiple different factors, and there are a range of Advance fares available for many long-distance journeys that are priced highly competitively.
We have been clear in the Plan for Rail that we want to simplify the current mass of complicated fares and tickets, whilst protecting affordable turn up and go tickets and season tickets.
As part of this we will extend the single leg pricing trial to the rest of LNER’s network, making fares more flexible for passengers, and trial demand-based pricing on some LNER services.