Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who has been (a) present and (b) given apologies for all meetings between his Department and (i) Transport for London and (ii) the Mayor of London and Office of the Mayor of London from 1 January 2020 to date.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Ministers and officials at the Department for Transport meet regularly with representatives of the Mayor’s office and Transport for London to discuss a wide range of topics. During the COVID 19 outbreak these meetings have necessarily increased, and are often held daily. Due to the frequency of these meetings, it would be impractical to provide a definitive list of attendees and apologies for all of these meetings.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received from (a) Transport for London and (b) the Mayor of London on the potential merits of increasing the congestion charge in London.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
As part of the funding package agreed with the Mayor of London to allow Transport for London to continue operating essential services in London during the COVID 19 outbreak, the Mayor agreed to reinstate the congestion charge. The decision to temporarily increase the congestion charge was taken by the Mayor and will be considered as part of the upcoming Government lead review of TfL’s financial position.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce emissions from vehicle idling.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Powers to tackle vehicle idling are available to Local Authorities, including the ability to issue Fixed Penalty Notices where necessary. However, this issue will not be solved simply through fining motorists. Local Authorities should utilise a range of methods to encourage motorists to change their behaviour, including public information campaigns. Better technology can play a part in addressing idling, such as stop-start technology and low- or -zero-emission vehicles. In particular the growth in Electric Vehicle sales is expected to assist in lowering emissions.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve accessibility at Carshalton Beeches railway station.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Access for All programme provides accessibility improvements over and above those required by the rail industry. Carshalton Beeches was nominated for the programme but not selected as it was difficult to justify its inclusion ahead of other busier stations with a higher industry priority.
However, I am committed to improving access at all stations, and will continue to seek further opportunities, and funding, to make more improvements.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of delayed and cancelled Southern rail services scheduled to depart Wallington station at (a) 07.32am and (b) 08.02am for London Bridge station since January 2019.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
I have not made an assessment of Southern rail services departing Wallington at this time. However, please note that, on the whole, since January 2019, we have recorded On Time figures of 71%, with cancellations recording 4.1%
The Department monitors each train operator’s overall performance against its performance benchmarks regularly and there are clear actions set out in the franchise agreement should performance drop below what is expected.
From February 2019 to February 2020 for Govia Thameslink Railway, the Moving Annual Average (MAA) Passenger Performance Measure (PPM), was 85.2%. This is a 3.1% improvement on the previous year.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of Southern Rail’s performance in 2019.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
From February 2019 to February 2020 for Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the operator of Southern services, the Moving Annual Average Passenger Performance Measure (PPM), which measures trains arriving at their destination within 5 minutes of their scheduled arrival time, was 85.2%. This is a 3.1 point improvement on the previous year. Southern is the best performing of GTR’s brands with a PPM figure of 86.1% for the most recent four-week period. There is still room for improvement and the Government is committed to investing around £48 billion in maintaining and upgrading the rail network in the period from 2019 to 2024, focused on increasing reliability and punctuality for passengers.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the punctuality of Southern Rail services (a) calling at and (b) departing from (i) Wallington, (ii) Hackbridge, (iii) Carshalton and (iv) Carshalton Beeches railway stations in 2019.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
For these stations, the annual averages for trains calling within one minute of the scheduled time are: 74.0% of services at Wallington, 70.0% of services at Hackbridge, 86.6% of services at Carshalton and 78.1% of services at Carshalton Beeches. The Department monitors each train operator’s overall performance against its performance benchmarks (cancellations, delay minutes and capacity) regularly and there are clear actions set out in the franchise agreement should performance drop below what is expected.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the passenger capacity of Southern Rail services (a) calling at and (b) departing from (i) Wallington, (ii) Hackbridge, (iii) Carshalton and (iv) Carshalton Beeches railway stations in 2019.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Department monitors each train operator’s overall performance against its performance benchmarks, and this includes the capacity regime, which measures the number of short formations during the peaks. Govia Thameslink Railway is currently meeting the required levels. However should it fail to do so there are clear actions set out in the franchise agreement in order to remedy any underperformance.