Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to invest in rail safety upgrades in South Wales.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Office of Road and Rail (ORR), as the independent railway safety regulator, is responsible for ensuring the rail industry is meeting its safety duties and that it responds appropriately to any new issues or risks which are identified.
In October we announced our plans to make £47.9bn available to Network Rail across England and Wales over the course of Control Period 6. This will enable Network Rail to carry out safety work across the country including track renewals, repairs, station improvements and maintenance of level crossings.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce levels of overcrowding on railways in Wales.
Answered by Paul Maynard
Passengers are benefitting from new Intercity Express trains on Great Western services, delivering faster journey times and improved connectivity between South Wales and London. 40% more seats will be provided in the morning peak once the full fleet is in service.
Any issues relating to Wales & Borders services is a matter for the Welsh Government.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to take steps to require criminal records checks to be made of drivers prior to hiring a van or car.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
There are no current plans to require criminal records checks to be made of drivers prior to hiring a van or car. However the Department for Transport is working very closely with government partners, the police and the security and intelligence agencies to consider what more can be done to prevent the malicious misuse of vehicles as a weapon.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will carry-out a feasibility study for electrifying the rail line from Cardiff to Swansea.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Government remains committed to delivering the Great Western Modernisation Programme delivering passenger benefits including the new IEP trains that will be entering service on this route later this year.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the levels of customer satisfaction of passengers of the Wales and Border rail franchise.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The standard assessment of the level of customer satisfaction for train companies across Great Britain is undertaken independently by Transport Focus.
Transport Focus undertake a National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) every six months. The latest results (Spring 2016) for Arriva Trains Wales reported overall satisfaction levels of 82%, unchanged from the result six months earlier.
Details are on the Transport Focus website, a link to the summary results is as follows: