Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policy and guidance of the 13 day closure of the Sudbury to Marks Tey railway line in November 2015 as a result of leaf damage to diesel rolling stock; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
Together with Abellio Greater Anglia (AGA) and Network Rail, the Department is very disappointed with the train service that has been provided to passengers on a number of rural routes in Anglia this autumn. In particular, the level of cancellations on branch lines operated by diesel trains has been unacceptable.
Network Rail and AGA have secured the services of John Curley, a respected railway industry professional, to hold an independent review of the factors and circumstances that conspired to affect services so badly. We expect this review to identify the root cause of failures and highlight lessons that need to be learned for the future. We expect corrective action to be taken wherever practicable to avoid recurrence in the future.
I can confirm that the results of the review will be made available to the winning bidder of the current East Anglia franchise competition.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with bidders for the current East Anglian rail franchise about the closure of the Sudbury to Marks Tey railway line and other branch lines in Suffolk in November 2015 as a result of leaf damage to diesel rolling stock.
Answered by Claire Perry
No specific discussions with bidders have taken place in regard to leaf fall damage to diesel rolling stock. As a minimum, we expect bidders to deliver on the ambitious performance benchmarks we have set, and to minimise delay and disruption for passengers across the franchise.
The East Anglia Invitation to Tender issued in September sets out that train performance will receive a weighting that is reflective of the level of improvements we want to see.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to amend the current East Anglian rail franchise tender to reflect the closure of the Sudbury to Marks Tey railway line and other branch lines in Suffolk in November 2015 as a result of leaf damage to diesel rolling stock.
Answered by Claire Perry
No specific discussions with bidders have taken place in regard to leaf fall damage to diesel rolling stock. As a minimum, we expect bidders to deliver on the ambitious performance benchmarks we have set, and to minimise delay and disruption for passengers across the franchise.
The East Anglia Invitation to Tender issued in September sets out that train performance will receive a weighting that is reflective of the level of improvements we want to see.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the total premium paid to the public purse for each of the rail franchises in England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Government publish rail subsidy per passenger mile, which includes details of premiums paid, on the GOV.UK website on the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rail-subsidy-per-passenger-mile .
However, the attached tables show this information over the last five years.