Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of trains were (a) cancelled or significantly late and (b) on time in each year since 1996 from Market Harborough to London Terminals.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
We recognise performance on the railway has been unsatisfactory, and passengers have not always received the level of service they expected. While performance has improved recently, the new Transport Secretary understands passengers need the certainty of reliable journeys, and is determined to work with industry to improve performance.
We are unable to provide the data requested, as it is owned by Network Rail. We advise you contact them directly for further information or refer to their websites.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the distance is via rail to the relevant London terminal from each station outside London; and what the price per mile is of a peak time return ticket to London from each of those stations.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
The Department does not hold this information, however fare information for specific destinations can be obtained from the Rail Delivery Group through the National Rail fares look up tool (www.nationalrail.co.uk).
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of services leaving each railway station were (a) cancelled or significantly late and (b) met the public performance measure in each of the last five years.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
We recognise performance on the railway has been unsatisfactory, and passengers have not always received the level of service they expected. While performance has improved recently, the new Transport Secretary understands passengers need the certainty of reliable journeys, and is determined to work with industry to improve performance.
Official statistics on passenger rail reliability and performance are published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
Cancellations and Significant Lateness (CaSL) measures the proportion of trains arriving at the final destination more than 30 minutes after the planned timetable or is cancelled either in full or in part.
The Public Performance Measure (PPM) is defined as the percentage of trains arriving at the final destination within five minutes of the planned timetable for London and South East, Regional and Scotland operators, or within ten minutes for the Long Distance operators.
Both PPM and CaSL measures reflect punctuality and reliability at the final destination, rather than at each station stop. For ease of reference, the national PPM and CaSL scores for the last 5 years are included in the table below.
Table 1 – National PPM and CaSL, 2014-15 to 2018-19
| 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
PPM | 89.7% | 89.1% | 87.7% | 87.8% | 86.3% |
CaSL | 2.8% | 3.1% | 3.8% | 3.9% | 4.3% |
Source: ORR
The latest PPM and CaSL statistics can be found on the ORR website at the below link:
https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-and-freight-rail-performance/
Since April 2019, the industry has adopted a new set of standard measures for measuring train performance including punctuality at each recorded station stop. The latest statistics are available from the below link:
Further performance statistics for specific stations are held by Network Rail. We advise you contact them directly for further information.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of commercial vehicle operators that will require European Conference of Ministers of Transport permits to transport goods to the (a) EU and (b) EEA countries in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal; and how many operators have applied for those permits in the last 12 months.
Answered by Michael Ellis
If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the EU has agreed a regulation on basic road connectivity that guarantees rights for UK hauliers to continue providing services between the UK and the EU. As it stands, the Regulation would come into effect were the UK to leave the EU without a deal, and would last until 31 December 2019 meaning that most haulage trips to EU or EEA countries will not be affected.
A small proportion of operators may require ECMT permits for transit to non-EU/EEA countries during November and December 2019. . However, the Government does not intend to rely on ECMT permits after we leave the EU as we would be working with Member States to agree bilateral arrangements. Many old bilateral agreements would become reinstated if we leave without a deal, and we are confident that other bilaterals will be agreed swiftly, given it is in the interest of both sides for freight to continue to flow.
2,143 UK goods vehicle operator’s licence holders applied for a total of 11,974 European Conference of Ministers of Transport annual permits in the last twelve months.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people applied for an international driving licence in each month in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Monthly information on the number of international driving permits is only available from February 2019 and is shown below:
Month | IDPs issued |
February | 65,923 |
March | 282,398 |
April | 163,274 |
May | 43,555 |
June | 28,570 |
Prior to February 2019, the AA, RAC and the Post Office issued IDPs. Collectively they issued around 100,000 IDPs annually.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of UK driving licence holders have an international driving licence.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Between 1 February 2019 and 30 June 2019, the Post Office issued 583,720 IDPs on behalf of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. This represents 1.12% of the 48 million GB driving licence holders. Prior to February 2019, the AA, RAC and the Post Office issued IDPs. Collectively they issued around 100,000 IDPs annually, and some of these would still be valid.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of ECMT permits (a) required by UK haulier operations and (b) that will be made available in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Chris Grayling
The Government has been clear that it does not intend to rely on ECMT permits after we leave the EU. The EU has agreed a regulation on basic road connectivity which guarantees rights for UK hauliers to continue providing services between the UK and the EU should the UK leave without a deal. As it stands, the Regulation would come into effect if the UK left the EU without a deal and would last until 31 December 2019.
Going forward, we will be working with Member States to agree on bilateral arrangements. Many old bilateral agreements would become reinstated if we leave without a deal and we are confident that other bilaterals will be agreed swiftly, given it is in the interest of both sides for freight to continue to flow.
The UK’s allocation of ECMT permits for 2020 is a base quota of 174 which is equivalent to 2,088 annual Euro VI ECMT permits.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will extend the electrification of the Midland Main line to Market Harborough.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Network Rail has been instructed to design an extension of electrification infrastructure from Kettering to Market Harborough station, as part of the Midland Main Line enhancements programme.
The Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) extension to Market Harborough will enable a new connection to a power supply at Braybrooke. At Outline Business Case stage in March 2018 this was determined to be the best value for money option for making the power supply connection. In line with normal practice, this will be tested again when the overall Midland Main Line programme Key Output 1a, of which Market Harborough electrification is a constituent part, is assessed at Full Business Case stage.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which stations on the national rail network have had new canopies installed on their platforms in the last five years; and what the cost was of each of those new canopies.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
This an operational matter for Network Rail; the Department for Transport does not hold this information.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been allocated from the public purse for planned upgrades to the Midland Main Line; and what the planned upgrades are which will be undertaken to improve capacity and speed on that line.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are investing over £1 billion in the biggest upgrade to the Midland Main Line since it was completed in 1870. It will deliver improved long distance passenger services between Sheffield, Nottingham and London, as well as a new dedicated service between Corby, Kettering and London. There will be more seats and faster intercity journeys during the peak.
Upgrades to improve capacity and line speed include: