Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make (a) an estimate of the proportion of London and North Eastern Railway services with limited stops that operate with under 65% seat occupancy and (b) a comparative assessment of the potential merits of providing non-subsidised open access services with more calling points.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department continues to work with the rail industry to ensure the design of timetable meets stakeholders needs and makes effective use of infrastructure. If an Open Access operator wishes to compete with a contracted operator, such as LNER, it is free to apply to the ORR to do so, and ORR will assess the benefits and wider impacts to passengers and to taxpayers and decide upon the application in its role as independent regulator for the rail industry.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what is the percentage seat utilisation per mile on London and North Eastern Railway services to (a) York, (b) Leeds and (c) Newcastle.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
LNER services have a high rate of seat utilisation which is comparable to or better than other inter-city long distance franchised operators. However, seat utilisation varies throughout the day as LNER make effective use of track capacity by running longer trains which delivers more capacity during the peaks, which can lead to excess capacity on return legs where demand may be lower. Timetable obligations and fixed train sets means that there is sufficient capacity to meet demand, though is not possible to alter capacity in these quieter times to improve seat utilisation rates on these services.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress Network Rail has made on the cost reviews taking place to deliver power supply improvements on the (a) West and (b) East Coast Main Line.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is currently reviewing the position it has inherited on rail infrastructure and will consider how we address power supply issues. We will set out our plans in due course.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential role of newly approved open access services in supporting British train (a) manufacturing, (b) assembly and (c) supply chains.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Privately owned and run open access operators can play a significant role in supporting UK train manufacturers, assemblers and their UK supply chains and are an important source of potential orders, both for new and cascaded rolling stock. It remains a matter for each operator to decide when and how to source its own rolling stock.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what is the forecast subsidy to support London and North Eastern Railway in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
LNER’s subsidy forecasts for 2024/25 and 2025/26 are commercially sensitive. Details of LNER’s accounts from previous years can be found in the published statutory accounts.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help mitigate the impact of industrial action in December 2022 on the rail freight sector in transporting commodities over the Christmas period.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Government continues to work closely with Network Rail (NR) and Freight Operating Companies (FOCs) to ensure as much freight as possible is able to continue to move throughout the industrial action planned over the Christmas period. We are ensuring that critical freight flows are prioritised and we continue to monitor the impacts on specific sectors, through our engagement with other Government Departments.
During periods of industrial action, approximately 20% of rail freight services operate on strike days, returning to around 70% on the day after a strike.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to maximise opportunities for growing rail freight.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government remains committed to growing rail freight and unlocking the economic and environmental benefits rail freight can deliver.
Between 2014-2019, the Government invested over £235m in the Strategic Freight Network (SFN) and further investments are being confirmed and announced through the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP).