Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce violence against women and girls on public transport.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), and we have set out our unprecedented mission to halve it within a decade. Achieving this means concerted work on prevention and overhauling every aspect of society’s response to these devastating crimes.
The Department for Transport is working across government to address these issues. We are also piloting Transport Safety Officers in five areas in England, including officers specifically trained to respond to incidents of VAWG.
The Department also continues to work closely with transport partners, including the British Transport Police, on a range of initiatives to address the problems faced by all passengers, on the transport network. This includes the Railway Guardian app which provides safety advice, links to partner organisations and enables reporting of incidents to the force directly. BTP uses specialist teams of plain clothed and uniformed officers across the network to target and identify offenders. It also uses enhanced patrols, with a directed, intelligence-led focus around the nighttime economy, providing high visibility presence to reassure rail staff and the public.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to improve transport links in West Yorkshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My Department is committed to improving transport links in West Yorkshire, and across the country. West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has been allocated £830m of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements funding over a five-year period, to help transform local transport into an integrated and inclusive network. Included in the investment is £160m set aside for mass transit development in West Yorkshire.
WYCA has also received £13.373m of additional Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding for 2024/2025, helping deliver their vision for better buses in West Yorkshire. The Department’s Buses Bill will support WYCA in their vision to bring buses back under local control, ensuring their networks can meet the needs of the communities who rely on them.
Additionally, as part of improving rail connectivity in West Yorkshire and the rest of the country, we have established Shadow Great British Railways to bring a major overhaul of the rail network, putting passengers first and driving up performance.
Asked by: David Taylor (Labour - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of (a) signalling safety, (b) service reliability and (c) maintenance on the West Coast Mainline.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is clear that performance on the West Coast Main Line has not been good enough with too many cancellations and delays.
Ministers recently met with the Managing Director of Avanti West Coast and the Network Rail West Coast South Route Director to challenge them on poor performance and demand immediate action to deliver urgent improvements relating to service reliability. Ministers will be meeting them again next month to follow-up and to ensure progress.
In their capacity as the independent safety regulator, the Office of Rail and Road has not raised any concerns regarding signalling safety on the West Coast Mainline.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of the Aylesbury spur of the East-West Rail link for the (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) UK economy.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Along with East West Rail Company and Network Rail, the Department for Transport is considering the merits of providing an East West Rail link to Aylesbury, and shared both cost information and the results of business case analysis with the local authority. A final decision will be made in due course.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they are making available for the development of Northern Powerhouse Rail between now and April 2025; and how many staff are currently engaged on this project.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Northern Powerhouse Rail accounting officer assessment summary published on 30 July set out that £54m has been budgeted for development work on the scheme in 2024/25. Expenditure of a further £34m is anticipated on the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill, excluding purchase costs for land and property.
There are around 40 full-time equivalent officials in the Department for Transport working on Northern Powerhouse Rail. This is reflective of the current stage of development and proposals. The Department for Transport is supported in its development of Northern Powerhouse Rail by Network Rail, HS2 Ltd and Transport for the North.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the performance of Network Rail in replacing the Oxford railway bridge which has involved closing the main road (A420) into the city centre for the past 16 months and postponing the reopening indefinitely.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Network Rail has not undertaken an assessment of the impacts and social costs resulting from the continuing closure of the A420 (Botley Road) to deliver the Oxford station improvements. Network Rail is working to produce a plan to complete the works and re-open the road. When this has been finalised I propose to meet with stakeholders to discuss it. I wrote to you on 2 September and explained that Network Rail and Great Western Railway are executing a plan to mitigate the impacts of the road closure on those accessing the station and city centre, including persons with restricted mobility. I expect Network Rail to continue to promote Oxford as being open for business throughout this critical and challenging phase.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the economic and social cost to Oxford of the closure of the A420 into the city; and what steps they plan to take, if any, to ensure that Network Rail is held accountable for the impact of the long-term closure of the road.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Network Rail has not undertaken an assessment of the impacts and social costs resulting from the continuing closure of the A420 (Botley Road) to deliver the Oxford station improvements. Network Rail is working to produce a plan to complete the works and re-open the road. When this has been finalised I propose to meet with stakeholders to discuss it. I wrote to you on 2 September and explained that Network Rail and Great Western Railway are executing a plan to mitigate the impacts of the road closure on those accessing the station and city centre, including persons with restricted mobility. I expect Network Rail to continue to promote Oxford as being open for business throughout this critical and challenging phase.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Network Rail concerning the impact on (1) local businesses, (2) older people, (3) disabled people, and (4) pregnant people, of the extended closure of Botley Road as part of the redevelopment of Oxford's rail station; and whether they intend to make resources available to Network Rail to mitigate that impact.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
I wrote to you on 2 September and explained that Network Rail and Great Western Railway are executing a plan to mitigate the impacts of the closure of Botley Road on station users, the wider public and businesses during the current closure of Botley Road. Work is under way to provide additional support for persons with reduced mobility as well as improvements to wayfinding, lighting and access to the station. Network Rail is working to produce a plan to complete the works and re-open the road. When this has been finalised I propose to meet with stakeholders to discuss it.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Veterans Railcards have been issued since they were introduced.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Data on the number of Veteran's Railcards issued is collected by the Rail Delivery Group but is not published due to its commercially sensitivity. Access to this data can be requested, on application, from RDGPublicAffairs@raildeliverygroup.com.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many journeys have been booked using a Veterans Railcard in each month since its introduction.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Data on the number of journeys made using a Veteran's Railcard is collected by the Rail Delivery Group but is not published due to its commercially sensitivity. Access to this data can be requested, on application, from RDGPublicAffairs@raildeliverygroup.com.