Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to increase public awareness of the potential impact of changes in the (a) responsibilities and (b) role of Great British Rail on journey times.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government is reforming the railways to ensure they are fit for the 21st century. Central to this is the establishment of Great British Railways (GBR).
The legislation needed to establish Great British Railways is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny and we have published the Government’s response to the legislation consultation.
Once established, GBR will bring infrastructure, operations and strategic finance decisions together, better addressing customers whilst delivering a simpler and better railway.
In advance of legislation to establish GBR, we have reorganised DfT, creating an integrated Rail Services Group, bringing together most of Passenger Services and Rail Infrastructure Group, focussed on the day-to-day operational performance of the railway. This is part of paving the way to an integrated rail body which will put customers at the heart of decision-making.
Ministers regularly speak about rail reform and ahead of the creation of GBR, the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) has been created to lay the foundations for GBR while also promoting the benefits of rail reform including through the Great British Rail Sale initiative. The second Great British Rail Sale generated around £4.9m in savings for passengers, according to industry estimates, with around 580,000 tickets sold.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help support Great British Railways to reduce rail journey times.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government is reforming the railways to ensure they are fit for the 21st century. Central to this is the establishment of Great British Railways (GBR).
The Draft Rail Reform Bill, which is needed to establish GBR, is undergoing pre legislative scrutiny. Alongside this, we are delivering for passengers, freight customers and taxpayers now, for example simplifying ticketing and fares and introducing the Rail Freight Growth Target.
Once established, GBR will bring infrastructure, operations and strategic finance decisions together, better addressing customers’ needs whilst delivering a simpler and better railway.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve rail services.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We are delivering a simpler and better railway. In advance of legislation to establish Great British Railways, we have reorganised the Department of Transport with the creation of an integrated Rail Services Group. This group brings together most of the Passenger Services Group and the Rail Infrastructure Group. This single team, focussed on the day-to-day operational performance of the railway, will pave the way to an integrated rail body.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, when life-expired railway infrastructure is being replaced, present appraisal methodology provides for the replacement infrastructure to reflect the current speeds and braking characteristics of modern trains.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The need to replace railway infrastructure is determined by regular inspections and reviews of the current state of the network. These test that the infrastructure is sufficient to safely and reliably support the type and speed of trains that it is intended to allow the operation of.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2024 to Question 11134 on Railways: Wales, if he will publish the initial prioritised list of rail improvements and investments.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Wales Rail Board’s prioritised view of rail infrastructure improvements and investments has been provided for consideration by the UK and Welsh Governments. There are no plans to publish the list at this time.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to (a) improve the speed and (b) reduce the cost of delivering rail infrastructure projects.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We work closely with Network Rail to improve the speed and cost of delivering rail infrastructure projects. Network Rail set up Rail SPEED (Swift, Pragmatic and Efficient Enhancement Delivery) as a mechanism to identify ways to increase the efficiency of rail infrastructure delivery.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce instances of signalling equipment failures.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Network Rail, in their capacity as the infrastructure manager for Britain’s railways, are undertaking a number of actions to reduce instances of signalling equipment failures on the network. This includes replacing old and obsolete equipment as part of their renewals work, undertaking reliability analysis to identify assets that are failing prematurely to enable targeted remedial action, applying predictive technology to identify the risk of failures, monitoring trends to identify underperforming assets so these can be replaced, and reviewing staff training to ensure staff are in the best position to manage and mitigate signalling failures. Moving to digital signalling, such as on the East Coast Digital Programme, will also lead to increased infrastructure reliability.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total rate of Network Rail's non-compliance with structural examinations was in (a) May 2021 and (b) March 2023.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
a) 27,848 non-compliant examinations in May 2021
b) 20,940 non-compliant examinations in March 2023
Network Rail undertakes examinations of its structures (bridges, retaining walls, culverts) to record their condition. Each examination type involves two key stages:
Non-compliance occurs when either of the above examination stages take longer than the permitted tolerances within Network Rail’s standard.
To contextualise the levels of non-compliance provided, Network Rail’s structures portfolio has approximately 150,000 examination regimes ongoing. Each non-compliant examination is risk assessed so that mitigating measures can be put in place if considered necessary. Network Rail has been engaging with the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) around the issue of non-compliance and, at the end of August 2023, submitted its recovery plans setting out how it will recover and sustain examination compliance. Network Rail is now focusing on its delivery of these plans.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many structural examinations are currently non-compliant on the Network Rail network as of 11 September 2023.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As of 11 September 2023, there were 14,952 non-compliant examinations.
Network Rail undertakes examinations of its structures (bridges, retaining walls, culverts) to record their condition. Each examination type involves two key stages:
Non-compliance occurs when either of the above examination stages take longer than the permitted tolerances within Network Rail’s standard.
To contextualise the levels of non-compliance provided, Network Rail’s structures portfolio has approximately 150,000 examination regimes ongoing. Each non-compliant examination is risk assessed so that mitigating measures can be put in place if considered necessary. Network Rail has been engaging with the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) around the issue of non-compliance and, at the end of August 2023, submitted its recovery plans setting out how it will recover and sustain examination compliance. Network Rail is now focusing on its delivery of these plans.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to (a) support and (b) protect heritage railways.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The United Kingdom is a true pioneer in the history of railway development, benefiting from the talents of Brunel and Stephenson among many others.
Heritage railways are major contributors to the UK’s visitor economy, attracting around 13 million visitors and bringing an estimated £250 million to the economy each year. More than 3,000 people are employed on heritage railways, with a further 22,000 volunteers generously committing their time and expertise.
The unprecedented Cultural Recovery Fund provided approximately £18 million to heritage railway-related organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping them to reopen safely and continue to welcome visitors. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is also currently undertaking the Local Visitor Economy Partnership accreditation process which will benefit heritage railways by ensuring that local tourist boards work together to boost the visitor economy across the country.
HM Government is engaged in positive discussions with Network Rail and the Heritage Rail Association to discuss their plans for the Rail 200 bicentenary celebrations, to ensure that the historic birth of the UK’s first passenger railway can be properly celebrated. DCMS’s arms-length bodies Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund are also investing in projects that will support the bicentenary.
Specific elements of heritage railway infrastructure are protected through the designation process. For example, signal boxes, stations, bridges can all be listed, and specific embankments, cuttings and so on can be scheduled under heritage protection legislation. In general, entire railways are not designated.