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: 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: 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: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, if any, with train operating companies regarding the practice of conducting ticket checks at the footbridge of Sheffield railway station, which is a public right of way.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Deploying revenue protection staff to deter ticketless travel, and doing so in a reasonable and efficient manner, is a matter for train operating companies.
Revenue protection offers passengers an additional level of safety and security whilst travelling on the rail network.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to require all new passenger trains to be built with step-free access through at least one set of doors per carriage.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has the same access to the rail network regardless of their needs. When procuring new trains operators are expected to minimise the height of the train door relative to the standard platform height to improve access and minimise risks for all passengers.
Under current accessibility requirements contained within the Persons with Reduced Mobility National Technical Specification Notice, operators are required to provide boarding ramps to provide step-free access to passengers boarding or alighting from trains.
Step-free access is also possible with existing rolling stock at stations which have been modified with raised platforms or built to enable level boarding.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State granted one or more Special Orders under section 44 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 which permitted the movement of long trams from the Very Light Rail Innovation Centre in Dudley to the Metro Maintenance Centre in Wednesbury on 15 February; and if so, whether the haulier who moved a tram on that date gave five clear working days’ notice to all the relevant authorities in accordance with the relevant Special Order.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
National Highways did issue a special order for the movement of ten trams from Dudley to Wednesbury.
Whilst the Department cannot respond on behalf of the other relevant authorities, the haulier did give five clear working days’ notice to National Highways for the movement on 15th February.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the effect of the planned reductions in the percentage discounts for student, senior, services and other railcards on numbers of rail passengers; and (2) the effect of the ensuing increase in fares on the overall cost of passenger railway to the Government.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The cost of railcards has not increased in ten years. This minor revision applies railcard discounts in line with the advertised ‘1/3 off’. We expect it to have a minimal impact on passengers and the cost of the railway to government, given it is not anticipated to have a material impact on revenues or demand.
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.