East Coast Main Line

Andrew Jones Excerpts
Thursday 27th November 2014

(9 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord McLoughlin Portrait Mr McLoughlin
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The fact is, as I said, that directly operated railways have basically paid £1 billion to the Exchequer over the past five years. The new intercity express will pay £3.3 billion over eight years.

Andrew Jones Portrait Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)
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I welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement, particularly in respect of the six additional trains per day running between London and Harrogate. I think this is a transformation of our services in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Does my right hon. Friend agree with me that this deal represents a huge boost—not just to our part of the economy, but to that of the whole of the north of England?

Lord McLoughlin Portrait Mr McLoughlin
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I do indeed. My hon. Friend can look forward to those extra services for his constituency, along with the others to which I have referred. We are talking, basically, about an increase of some 33% of services across the board, with 75 new destinations being served as a result of this morning’s announcement.