Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has made to Network Rail about engineering works at London Bridge station and their effects on rail services into and out of that station.

The Secretary of State met with Mark Carne in January, seeking assurances that the disruptions passengers experienced in early January were not to be repeated .Officials from the Department for Transport (DfT) are also in regular contact with Network Rail, and train operators to ensure that appropriate actions are taken to improve the service offered to passengers.

As my Right Honourable Friend is aware, I recently convened and chaired roundtable meetings with the senior management of both Southern and Thameslink (GTR), Network Rail, Department officials who are responsible for the franchise in the DfT, MPs whose constituencies are being affected by the performance of these operators, Passenger Focus and London TravelWatch, and the Office of Rail Regulation.

At the meetings, GTR, Southern and Network Rail presented their high level improvement plan, which sets out the actions they are taking to turn things around across six key areas: Infrastructure, Trains, Timetable, Drivers, Operations and Customer Experience. The plan has also now been published on their websites and, importantly, they have committed to updating it by the end of February with specific commitments on the outputs that will be delivered.

Following these presentations, the operators were challenged on a range of issues, including the Thameslink Programme-related disruption at London Bridge.

As a result of the meetings I secured a commitment that Network Rail and the train operators will provide a monthly report on progress towards their committed outputs and publish this on their websites, so that passengers have transparency on what is being delivered.