Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to introduce enhanced technology-based track inspections to detect rail embankment subsidence before landslides occur.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Network Rail, as the infrastructure manager of Britain’s railways, continue to review and update the monitoring techniques they use to detect precursors for earthwork failures on railway embankments they manage. These enhancements are informed by geotechnical experts and include increasing the use of remote sensing, photogrammetry, CCTV, distributed acoustic sensing and inclinometers. These are among other tools to enable Network Rail engineers to target measures to reinforce slopes, add protection and improve resilience in the long term.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much and what proportion of the £3.6 million allocated to rail infrastructure has been spent; and when he plans to spend the remaining proportion of that funding.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Since 2017, the DfT and Innovate UK have run six First of a Kind (FOAK) competitions. So far, we have awarded over £38m to 125 projects led by a range of organisations to support innovations that help to address priorities for the railway identified by both government and industry. This includes projects funded under FOAK 2022, announced in November.
You have clarified that your question relates to the first FOAK competition, which launched in October 2017 and offered £3.5m to bids focusing specifically on implementing innovative technology on railway vehicles, rather than rail infrastructure. Through a scoring process by independent experts, 10 winning projects were selected, to a total value of £3.375m.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 33 of the Autumn Statement, CP 751 published on 17 November 2022, whether the commitment to Build East-West Rail includes building connection stages 2 and 3.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Autumn Statement recommitted to the government’s transformative growth plans for our railways including East West Rail. Connection Stage 2 (Bletchley to Bedford) and Connection Stage 3 (Bedford to Cambridge) of East West Rail are at development stage, and options for the sections were consulted on as part of a wide-ranging non-statutory consultation from March-June 2021. An update on the project will be provided in due course. As a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), EWR Co. is planning to submit a Development Consent Order (DCO) to secure the relevant planning and permitted development powers.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the progress which has been made on repairing rail infrastructure in Ukraine to enable the transportation of grain.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK and Ukrainian Governments have regular discussions on the UK's support to Ukraine, including on damaged infrastructure. Network Rail recently assisted the Ukrainian rail authorities with surplus road vehicles and rail engineering tools for use in repairing damaged rail infrastructure. The UK has also provided a £10 million programme of support to Ukrainian Railways to enable the movement of grain by rail to ports and land borders. Additionally, the UK supported the development of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, under which over 7 million tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs have been exported from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential long-term impact of damage to (a) farmland, (b) machinery and (c) livestock in Ukraine on food production in that country.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Russia's illegal and brutal invasion is destroying Ukraine's farms and infrastructure, with potentially long-term consequences. Russian bombing continues to ruin crops and damage railways and prevents Ukrainian grain from getting onto world food markets, contributing to global food insecurity. The UK is supporting Ukraine to mitigate the impacts of Russia's actions and help ensure it can export its grain. We have provided £10m for equipment to move grain by rail to neighbouring countries. We have also supported the Black Sea Grain Initiative, under which over 7 million tonnes of grain have been exported from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure railways are resilient to future heatwaves.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
My Department has plans in place and underway to adapt to and mitigate the risks of climate change. The Williams-Shapps plan for Rail includes a priority for long-term investment in climate resilience supported by smarter forecasting, planning and technology.
Network Rail (NR) and the wider rail industry are also working to improve our resilience to climate change impacts and other disruptive events. They are developing a risk-based approach to resilience planning, enabling a focus on those risks and assets that are key to delivering safety and performance improvements for passengers and freight users in a cost-effective manner.
Lessons from the hot summers over the past few years have been implemented including a maintenance programme preparing infrastructure for summer. The experience of the last few days has shown that there is more to do. Our infrastructure is not designed to operate in these extreme conditions, so NR have prioritised safety. Engineering standards are being reviewed with a view to enabling assets to better handle hotter temperatures (and other changes in the climate) and lessen the need to reduce services to manage risk.
NR’s Third Adaptation Report details the wide range of other adaptation work undertaken since 2015 and lays out action plans going forward.
At an industry level the Rail Resilience Project (RRP), which commenced its delivery phase in April 2022, will deliver on the conclusions and nine recommendations from a cross-industry Rail Resilience Review undertaken in Q1 & 2 2021. It will deliver for the first time a coherent industry doctrine across the full emergency management lifecycle. It will be supported by guidance on implementation, a full competency framework for emergency management professionals and structures to improve governance across the industry and engagement with partners.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the impact of the red weather warning for extreme heat on our rail infrastructure.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Extreme heat can cause disruption on the railway due to issues such as overhead powerlines sagging in the heat, the increased likelihood of lineside fires, and rail buckling (when rails expand and curve).
The Department continues to support the rail industry as they work to ensure mitigations, such as emergency speed restrictions, are implemented to protect infrastructure and ensure both passenger and staff welfare.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Ukraine regarding the damaged infrastructure in that country; and what plans they have, if any, to provide financial assistance to help with the rebuilding of that infrastructure.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK and Ukrainian Governments have regular discussions on the UK's support to Ukraine, including on damaged infrastructure. Such discussions have informed the UK's plan to support Ukraine's reconstruction. This was presented at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano on 4 July. It includes support to address the Government of Ukraine's financial gap to ensure it can pay wages and restore critical infrastructure. Additionally, in response to President Zelenskyy's request of the Prime Minister, the UK will champion the recovery of Kyiv region. Alongside this, the UK-led £37m Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine has already begun identifying priority repair works.
We are a leading donor in response to the crisis, committing economic, humanitarian and military support totalling approximately £3.8bn. This includes £10m to the Energy Support Fund for repairs to energy infrastructure, and £10m for equipment to facilitate the movement of grain by Ukrainian railways to neighbouring countries.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how his Department plans to integrate Transport for London's single ticketing infrastructure with that of Great British Railways.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Government has committed to expanding PAYG in the Southeast through extending the Transport for London (TfL) contactless system. This will significantly increase the number of passengers who will be able to travel using contactless ticketing between national rail and TfL modes. Further integration of these systems with National Rail will be a matter for TfL and Great British Railways.
Last year’s spending review set aside £360 million investment to modernise industry ticketing and retailing systems. We also announced alongside the Integrated Rail Plan, an expansion of pay-as-you-go travel on rail to more than 700 stations in urban areas across the country including more than 400 in the north. This is in addition to our manifesto commitment to extend PAYG to more than 200 stations in the South East.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to (a) centralise and (b) otherwise reform timetabling to help improve (i) reliability and (ii) connectivity on the rail network, in the context of the establishment of Great British Railways.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Once established, Great British Railways (GBR), will provide strong unified leadership across the rail network. GBR will bring ownership of the infrastructure, fares, timetables and planning of the network under one roof. It will bring the fragmented railways under a single point of operational accountability – ensuring the focus is delivering for passengers and freight customers. GBR will also have a new relationship with the private sector through new Passenger Service Contracts that incentivise train operators to deliver punctual and reliable services.