Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 13 Jan 2015 Network Rail
"I am indeed. I rise to congratulate the Government and Network Rail on the new station in Rochester, which will be fantastic. The Minister talks about working together with the operators. The new station is half a mile or so closer to London, and significant investment has been put into …..." Mark Reckless - View Speech
"Why does the Secretary of State pretend he is in charge when the reality is that the Network Rail board reports to its members—the 46 public members identified by the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone)—and a similar number of industry vested interests? Does the Secretary of State not understand …..." Mark Reckless - View Speech
"Is it right that costs in respect of the Medway tunnel should continue to fall to local council tax payers, when almost every other toll in the country is part of the strategic roads network and, therefore, funded by the Highways Agency?..." Mark Reckless - View Speech
"I am pleased to hear the Minister refer to a travelator for efficient and easy travel. He said that the HS1-HS2 link would be an international route and everyone would have to go through passport control. Will he consider the possibility of domestic services regarding a future link? Research from …..." Mark Reckless - View Speech
"Is one study taking place or two? There is the question whether we have a travelator-type arrangement to connect Euston and St Pancras for passengers going from HS1 to HS2, but is there a separate question of how we connect HS1 to the broader railway network, which may be a …..." Mark Reckless - View Speech
"I hope that in this debate about high-speed rail the Front-Bench team will not mind my talking about high speed. Of course capacity is extraordinarily important, and we are not just talking about capacity to relieve the west coast main line. The relief that the Y network will give to …..." Mark Reckless - View Speech
"Yes I certainly do agree, and I think that is because of those improved journey times, including to Folkestone. The idea that there would be more jobs in Folkestone if the journey time were two hours rather than one hour, or that if we somehow had a man with a …..." Mark Reckless - View Speech
"I agree with the Secretary of State. I would add, however, that further benefits to these northern cities and Birmingham could be accrued if we did more than just fulfil the intention of the direct links through to the continent of Europe. Although I understand why the previously proposed way …..." Mark Reckless - View Speech
"Yes, I am reassured. I consider there to be a degree of pessimism bias in this case; £700 million has been taken out for the link and it has just been absorbed into even more contingency. I think that the contingency is much too high and that the project will …..." Mark Reckless - View Speech
"I am all in favour of better links with Europe, at least in this context. Does the Secretary of State accept, however, that most of the demand for an HS1-HS2 link will be domestic? Will he learn from the sub-optimal interchange at Stratford and consider installing a travelator to get …..." Mark Reckless - View Speech