Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many signalling failures there have been on the East Cost Main Line in the last six months; and if he will make an assessment of the impact of these signalling failures on passengers.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Over the past six months, there have been 132 signalling-only failures across the whole of the East Coast Main Line.
We recognise that signal failures can be highly disruptive to passengers’ journeys. We are in regular contact with Network Rail, who are responsible for signalling infrastructure, and train operators to reduce the number of signal failures, the time that the infrastructure is out of action whilst repairs are undertaken and the overall impact on passengers.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the operational resilience of the East Coast Main Line to extreme weather events.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Climate change could increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather and Network Rail is planning now in order to provide a safe, reliable network in the future. Network Rail works closely with many governmental and specialist organisations to prepare our railway for the climate changes projected over the next few years, decades and beyond.
As part of its work in this area, Network Rail recently launched a taskforce led by independent experts to investigate and make recommendations on how the railway can develop its approach to resilience. East Coast route is working closely with the taskforce to take forward its recommendations to ensure the line is resilient to extreme weather.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's planned timetable is for publishing the outcome of the accessibility audit of Newcastle Central station.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Accessibility audits of all 2,575 GB mainline rail stations, including Newcastle Central, have now been completed and quality assured. Work is ongoing to consider how to make the data available to the public and policy makers.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of wheelchair accessible private hire vehicles in Newcastle.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Local licensing authorities have an important role to play in ensuring disabled people can access the taxi and private hire vehicle services that they rely upon.
In 2022 we consulted on updated best practice guidance, including recommending that authorities use their existing powers to licence mixed fleets of taxis and PHVs incorporating sufficient wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) to satisfy the demand from passengers who rely upon them. The substantive guidance will be published later this year.
We also supported the passage of the Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Disabled Persons) Act 2022, which introduced important protections for disable passengers when using taxis and PHVs.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the impact of the cancellation of the second phase of HS2 on the value for money of the project.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The economic assessment of the decision to proceed with building HS2 between Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street was set out in the Accounting Officer Assessment published by the Department on 5 October 2023. Every penny of the £36bn of savings from cancelling future phases of HS2 will be invested in transport project across the country, including considerable investment in the North East.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made with bus companies on ensuring that real-time bus information is available to passengers in Newcastle.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Since 7 January 2021, it has been legally required that operators of local bus services across England openly publish their live location data to the Bus Open Data Service. Currently 98% of vehicles are fitted with Automatic Vehicle Location devices.
Third party application developers can access this open data online via the Find Bus Data Service for inclusion in journey planners and applications, helping passengers plan their journey on public transport via their mobile phone or computer.
In the North East, application developers such as Google Maps, Bus Times, Transit and Citymapper have been able to launch their journey planning products which include bus times arrivals utilising data from the Bus Open Data Service and integrates it into multi-modal journey planners to enable passengers to plan their journeys on public transport.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a similar scheme to the electric vehicle social leasing scheme in France.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Government grants have been in place for over a decade to help reduce the up-front purchase price of electric vehicles. The Government is targeting its funding to where they have the most impact and to deliver the greatest value for money to the taxpayer. This includes grants for vans, trucks, taxis and wheelchair accessible vehicles, as well as significant investment in charging infrastructure. The Government keeps the support for ZEV transition under regular review.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support the (a) development and (b) procurement of decarbonising technology in the maritime sector.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
My department is supporting the decarbonisation of the UK maritime sector through a two-pronged approach: R&D funding and investment through the £206m UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme, the biggest government investment ever in our commercial maritime sector, accompanied by a comprehensive policy and regulatory programme.
So far UK SHORE has invested R&D funding to the tune of over £95m in three rounds of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, £7.4m in a Clean Maritime Research Hub in partnership with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and £77m Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure (ZEVI) competition, which will see three-year demonstrations of operational zero emission vessels and the infrastructure needed to support them deployed by 2025.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to (a) improve, (b) repair and (c) replace train stock in the Newcastle depot; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing train stock.
Answered by Huw Merriman
There are several train operators that undertake activities at Newcastle Heaton Depot. It is a matter for each of those train operators to ensure that their fleets are maintained appropriately and to potentially develop proposals to improve or replace fleets to meet the needs of their passengers.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress his Department has made on bringing forward legislative proposals to enable the use of autonomous vehicles on roads.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In August 2022 the Government published ‘Connected & Automated Mobility 2025: Realising the benefits of self-driving vehicles in the UK’, setting out the government’s vision to enable the deployment of self-driving vehicles in the UK by 2025. This includes bringing forward proposals for a comprehensive regulatory, legislative and safety framework. The Government intends to introduce legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.