Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to protect constituents in Hitchin from inappropriate and dangerous HGV movements on residential streets.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government takes all necessary steps to protect everyone on our roads through road safety laws. We expect all motorists, including those driving HGVs or travelling for work, to respect and comply with those laws. The Police take all necessary steps to enforce the law, ensuring the safety of all road users and residents in local areas.
Local highway authorities have a range of powers to manage their local networks, including powers to make Traffic Regulation Orders which can impose width and height restrictions and set rules around which types of vehicles can use which roads.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making aircraft noise a statutory nuisance.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The government is supportive of the need to protect communities from the adverse effects of aircraft noise. However, noise from general transport, including aircraft, is not included as a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as we believe it is not practical for local authorities to enforce these rules. Aviation noise is better managed through specific government policies tailored to individual noise sources, and we believe there are sufficient mechanisms in place to protect communities from the effects of aircraft noise.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that train companies declassify first class carriages when their trains are operating at high-occupancy levels during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The safety of passengers and staff has been a priority for the Department throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Government has published Safer Travel guidance which sets out steps operators can take to identify risks arising from coronavirus. From 19 July most restrictions have been lifted, including the requirement for social distancing on trains. Within the context of that guidance, it is for train operators to decide how best to manage their services and rolling stock.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 109 on page 20 of the Clean Air Zone Framework, published in February 2020, what support his Department is providing to local authorities setting up Clean Air Zones to help encourage the upgrade of refrigeration units on cold chain vehicles to the least polluting options.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government does not provide any specific advice or support to local authorities with regard to this issue. It is for local authorities to determine their own local measures and exemptions as part of their local plan submitted to the Government.
We are also supporting the development of cleaner alternatives that affected businesses can switch to by doubling the funding provided for the energy innovation programme, accelerating the design and production of clean energy technologies.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how his Department monitors the level of emissions caused by transport refrigeration units; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce such emissions to achieve the target of net zero by 2050.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Emissions from transport refrigeration units are governed by Regulation (EU) 2016/1628, which controls gaseous and particulate pollutants from engines of Non-Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM). This Regulation implements legislative requirements that an engine for NRMM must be approved against before it can be marketed within the UK.
The Department will be working closely with DEFRA and BEIS to ensure the emissions of NRMM, such as transport refrigeration units, reduce in line with the Government’s net zero commitments.
To improve air quality, the UK Government announced its intention to remove the entitlement to use red diesel from April 2022, except for non-commercial heating, agriculture, fish farming and rail. This will ensure that the tax system incentivises users of polluting diesel fuel to change practices or pay for their harmful emissions. The Government has recently consulted on this and is currently analysing responses.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason transport refrigeration units are exempt from the Clean Air Zone Framework in England.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Individual refrigeration units can cause significant levels of pollution; however the standards set out for charging Clean Air Zones (CAZs) set out in the CAZ framework are focussed on vehicle tailpipe emissions, which are the greatest source of roadside pollution by a significant margin.
There are also technical limitations to using CAZs to control such vehicles. CAZs rely on Automated Number Plate Recognition to identify the Euro class of a vehicle but cannot identify whether or not they are a refrigerated vehicle; it would not, at present, be possible to use a CAZ in this way.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the driver shortages on train services to Hitchin in the first week of the new Govia Thameslink timetable.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The unacceptable level of service since the start of the new timetable is not due to Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) not having enough drivers. The significant delay in Network Rail agreeing the timetable has directly impacted on GTR’s ability to re-work train crew schedules and deliver driver training on new routes and on new trains and this has impacted on the delivery of the new timetable. To make space on the network for hundreds of extra services, the timing of all services had to be changed and all of these new journeys needed to be individually approved by Network Rail to ensure the national rail network runs safely and smoothly. Unfortunately, as a result of the sheer number of changes required, the process took longer than anticipated, approvals for service changes were delayed and some timetable requests were changed. This meant the operator had much less time to prepare than it needed – leading to a shortage of drivers trained on the right routes.
We are assessing whether GTR met their contractual obligations in the planning and delivery of this timetable change, and whether these issues could have been reasonably foreseen and different action taken to prevent the high levels of disruption passengers are experiencing. The assessment will cover whether GTR had sufficient resources and skills to deliver the new timetable, if drivers could have been trained in a faster and more effective way, and examine the contingency and risk management arrangements in place. If it is found that GTR are materially in breach of their contractual obligations, we will take the appropriate enforcement action against them.
Passengers on GTR are facing totally unsatisfactory levels of service and it is the Department’s number one priority to restore reliability to an acceptable level as soon as possible. We are in regular discussions with Network Rail and GTR and have reiterated this to them. The rail industry has collectively failed to deliver for passengers and has rightly issued a joint apology.
When this new timetable is fully introduced it will deliver hundreds more services up and down the country as part of the biggest modernisation of the railway since Victorian times, following the huge growth we have seen in passenger numbers.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the efficacy of the Govia Thameslink franchise in relation to the changes to the timetable on the rail network.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The unacceptable level of service since the start of the new timetable is not due to Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) not having enough drivers. The significant delay in Network Rail agreeing the timetable has directly impacted on GTR’s ability to re-work train crew schedules and deliver driver training on new routes and on new trains and this has impacted on the delivery of the new timetable. To make space on the network for hundreds of extra services, the timing of all services had to be changed and all of these new journeys needed to be individually approved by Network Rail to ensure the national rail network runs safely and smoothly. Unfortunately, as a result of the sheer number of changes required, the process took longer than anticipated, approvals for service changes were delayed and some timetable requests were changed. This meant the operator had much less time to prepare than it needed – leading to a shortage of drivers trained on the right routes.
We are assessing whether GTR met their contractual obligations in the planning and delivery of this timetable change, and whether these issues could have been reasonably foreseen and different action taken to prevent the high levels of disruption passengers are experiencing. The assessment will cover whether GTR had sufficient resources and skills to deliver the new timetable, if drivers could have been trained in a faster and more effective way, and examine the contingency and risk management arrangements in place. If it is found that GTR are materially in breach of their contractual obligations, we will take the appropriate enforcement action against them.
Passengers on GTR are facing totally unsatisfactory levels of service and it is the Department’s number one priority to restore reliability to an acceptable level as soon as possible. We are in regular discussions with Network Rail and GTR and have reiterated this to them. The rail industry has collectively failed to deliver for passengers and has rightly issued a joint apology.
When this new timetable is fully introduced it will deliver hundreds more services up and down the country as part of the biggest modernisation of the railway since Victorian times, following the huge growth we have seen in passenger numbers.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the introduction of the new Govia Thameslink timetable.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The unacceptable level of service since the start of the new timetable is not due to Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) not having enough drivers. The significant delay in Network Rail agreeing the timetable has directly impacted on GTR’s ability to re-work train crew schedules and deliver driver training on new routes and on new trains and this has impacted on the delivery of the new timetable. To make space on the network for hundreds of extra services, the timing of all services had to be changed and all of these new journeys needed to be individually approved by Network Rail to ensure the national rail network runs safely and smoothly. Unfortunately, as a result of the sheer number of changes required, the process took longer than anticipated, approvals for service changes were delayed and some timetable requests were changed. This meant the operator had much less time to prepare than it needed – leading to a shortage of drivers trained on the right routes.
We are assessing whether GTR met their contractual obligations in the planning and delivery of this timetable change, and whether these issues could have been reasonably foreseen and different action taken to prevent the high levels of disruption passengers are experiencing. The assessment will cover whether GTR had sufficient resources and skills to deliver the new timetable, if drivers could have been trained in a faster and more effective way, and examine the contingency and risk management arrangements in place. If it is found that GTR are materially in breach of their contractual obligations, we will take the appropriate enforcement action against them.
Passengers on GTR are facing totally unsatisfactory levels of service and it is the Department’s number one priority to restore reliability to an acceptable level as soon as possible. We are in regular discussions with Network Rail and GTR and have reiterated this to them. The rail industry has collectively failed to deliver for passengers and has rightly issued a joint apology.
When this new timetable is fully introduced it will deliver hundreds more services up and down the country as part of the biggest modernisation of the railway since Victorian times, following the huge growth we have seen in passenger numbers.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether improvements to infrastructure and the capacity for East Midlands Trains will be completed in 2020; and what steps his Department is taking to prevent delays to services serving stations along that route post-2020.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
We are investing in the biggest upgrade of the Midland Main Line since it was completed in 1870. This infrastructure upgrade will create capacity for up to 50% more seats in the peak into London St Pancras.
We continue to work closely with Network Rail on the upgrade, and based on their plans and projections at this time, delivery is expected in 2020.
We will shortly be announcing the Invitation to Tender for the next East Midlands franchise, which will set out how we want to see the next operator make best use of this additional capacity. For journeys between Corby and London, the consultation on the next East Midlands franchise proposed that passengers benefit from a new and dedicated express service. From 2020, it was proposed that the trains would be fast, like today, but also longer, with more seats.
This would enable the next operator of the East Midlands franchise to resume peak-time services at Bedford and Luton.