Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to reduce the number of traffic lights at roundabouts in Telford.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Provision of traffic lights is the responsibility of the local traffic authority, in this case Telford and Wrekin Council. It is for them to decide if lights are required at junctions on their network, taking into account local circumstances such as accident records, traffic flows and road layout. The Department does not intervene in local matters such as this.
The Department recommends local authorities regularly review sites to ensure the use of signal control is still appropriate, revising timings as needed and removing signals where possible.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to provide funding for local bus routes which provide an important service but are not commercially viable.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Local authorities in England spend over £315m a year supporting socially necessary bus services. In addition, the Department for Transport provides around £40m of Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) funding directly to authorities to help deliver bus services. This central funding has been ring-fenced until 2016-17.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure the electrification of the train line between Wolverhampton and Telford.
Answered by Claire Perry
The line between Wolverhampton and Telford is not currently funded for electrification. We are awaiting the publication by Network Rail of its Electrification Route Utilisation Strategy, which has looked at this route, among others, as candidates to be electrified. The Government expects to publish its next Rail Investment Strategy for 2019-2024 in July 2017.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to improve the frequency and speed of rail services between Telford and Birmingham.
Answered by Claire Perry
Services between Telford and Birmingham are supplied by more than one operator; London Midland and Arriva Trains Wales. Their Franchise Agreements state the minimum service provision of the train operator to protect service provision for passengers. This sees both providing hourly services Monday to Friday and where reasonable, these shall be timed with the other operator to promote a half hourly service.
Whilst the train operators cannot run fewer services than are stipulated (nor simply remove a station stop or two as this could mean that the minimum specifications for those removed station stops are not met), if the train operators believe that the demand exists for additional services (which may have quicker journey times) and they have the rolling stock, staff availability and they can obtain the required track access rights, there is nothing to stop them from running more frequent services. My Hon Friend, may wish to contact the operators to explore what options may be available to achieve quicker journeys in the short-term*.
Local Councils can also help specify and fund transport solutions if they decide that this is the best way to meet local transport needs. In doing so, they would discuss the feasibility of the scheme with Network Rail and the train operator(s). If the scheme is feasible and represents value for money, the Council would need to be prepared to fund the cost from sources which are available for transport investment.
The Department is aware of stakeholder aspirations for improvements in and to the service provision between Telford and Birmingham. As part of the competition for the new long term franchises for this route, public consultations will be opened to help inform the specification for those franchises.
*Arriva Trains Wales contact email:customer.relations@arrivatrainswales.co.uk; London Midland contact email: http://www.londonmidland.com/contact/contact-us/contact-form/