Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the loss of fare revenue arising from the recent withdrawal from service of some Hitachi trains; and who will bear the cost of that loss of revenue.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Disruption has been most significant on the Great Western Railway (GWR) network on Intercity services, as well as some London North Eastern Railway (LNER) and a small number of TransPennine Express services.
We anticipate less than £1m each day may need to be refunded for GWR services. On LNER services, and despite a smaller disruptive impact to the operation of services, the operator has reported to the Department that it processed on average £60,000 per day of Delay Repay claims last week.
The agreements in place to use the affected trains contain provisions that protect the taxpayer and we are currently assessing all available options to ensure taxpayers are protected.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to publish the report of the consultation required under section 60 of the High Speed Rail (West Midlands–Crewe) Act 2021; and why they did not publish that report before 1 May 2021.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published the report on 13 May, as soon as possible after the Queen’s speech. There were a range of factors that unfortunately delayed publication of the report. This included receiving 499 responses which was much more than expected so the report took longer to produce, commencement of the pre-local election period, and prorogation of Parliament.