Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the number of services on the Castle Line from Lincoln to Nottingham through Newark Castle Station will be restored to the level of those services prior to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Along with other operators East Midlands Railway (EMR) reduced services during the height of the pandemic as demand was reduced and the ability to operate services reliably was affected by driver resource constraints and delayed arrival of rolling stock from another operator.
EMR will be operating an increased timetable from December this year as some services are re-instated, and further additions are part of consideration of plans for May 2022. It essential that these service additions are done in a measured way to provide a reliable service that appropriately meets post-COVID levels of demand.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he and National Highways plan to announce the preferred route for the A46 Newark northern by-pass.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Following consultations early this year where stakeholders were presented with the potential options to improve the A46 Newark Bypass, National Highways has been considering the feedback received to help develop the best option. National Highways anticipate a decision on the preferred route to be made later this year or early next year.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure disabled access on all platforms at Bingham railway station.
Answered by Claire Perry
I would like to assure the hon. Member that we are committed to improving accessibility at railway stations. However, many stations date from a time when the needs of disabled customers were simply not considered and at present only around 460 of our 2,500 stations have step free access to every platform. We have therefore continued with the Access for All programme, launched in 2006, which by 2019 will have provided step free access at more than 200 stations and has already delivered smaller scale access improvements at over 1200 stations.
In 2013 we asked the industry to nominate stations for the latest tranche of Access for All funding. 278 were put forward and we selected 68 of these to add to the programme. To ensure the best possible value for money, these were chosen based on their annual footfall, weighted by the incidence of disability in the area. We also took into account the priorities of the industry and other factors such as the availability of third party funding. Around a third were also chosen to ensure a fair geographical spread across the country.
Bingham was not among the 278 stations nominated.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information he holds on whether Network Rail plans to release a contribution to the cost of a disabled access footbridge at Bingham railway station in Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department for Transport does not hold information on Network Rail’s plans for funding towards the cost of an accessible footbridge at Bingham station.