PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament

1497 Rail Franchising
26 MARCH 2013
Rail Franchising
1498
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD): Wiltshire’s
passenger rail offer stands to benefit from a multi-million
pound grant from the coalition Government’s local
sustainable transport fund. Now that the future of the
franchise is clear, what is the Secretary of State’s advice
to the promoter, Wiltshire council, and to First Great
Western? Is it more “wait and see”, or that they should
now get on with it?
Mr McLoughlin: I think I would need a bit more
notice before answering that question. If my hon. Friend
writes to me, I will look at the issues in more detail.
[Interruption.] The Under-Secretary of State for Transport,
my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker),
says, “Just get on with it”.
Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con): I very much welcome
my right hon. Friend’s statement. Thameslink and Southern
Railway recently announced new rolling stock to operate
from the four stations within my constituency. Can he
assure me that the changes to rail franchising announced
today will not affect the delivery of that rolling stock?
Mr McLoughlin: It certainly should not affect the
delivery of the new trains. I know of no reason why it
should and if I am wrong, I will obviously write to my
hon. Friend.
PennyMordaunt(PortsmouthNorth)(Con):Portsmouth’s
experience of franchises awarded under the last Government
was that the rolling stock was downgraded from the
agreement. When will passenger comfort and service
standards be written into the agreements, to ensure that
passengers have access to a toilet and that commuters
are not crippled by suburban rolling stock being used on
main line routes?
Mr McLoughlin: I am very disturbed to hear what my
hon. Friend says, and I will certainly look into her
points and get back to her in more detail in the very
near future.
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con): There have
been massive improvements on the west coast main line
since privatisation and Virgin, but one way to improve
things in the future—to continue improving competition
and to keep down costs—would be by encouraging
more operators to enter the market. Is there anything in
my right hon. Friend’s statement that would encourage
open access operators to come in on more existing
services?
Mr McLoughlin: There are some open access services,
to which the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull
North (Diana Johnson) referred, on the east coast main
line. I believe that applications for other open access
services are with the Office of the Rail Regulator at the
moment. I am happy to look at those and act on advice
when I get it from the rail regulator.
Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con): Rail users in Rugby
will welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement
about the Virgin franchise being extended on the west
coast main line. Will he reassure my constituents that an
extra 29 months will be enough to encourage Virgin to
continue to invest in the railway?
Mr McLoughlin: I know that Virgin is keen to continue
with investments on that line and is happy to receive
representations, both from my hon. Friend and from
me, if good cases are made for investment that has a
positive return.
Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con): I
thank the Secretary of State for his statement. May I
also thank him for reducing train fares in the south-east
by reducing the retail prices index plus 3% provision to
RPI plus 1%? Under the previous Government,
Southeastern had RPI plus 3% whereas the rest of the
country had RPI plus 1%, and that was exceptionally
unfair.
Mr McLoughlin: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for
that. The truth is that we are putting massive further
investment into the railways. That has to be paid for by
both the fare payer and the taxpayer, but it is right that
we try to get that balance right. I am pleased that the
Chancellor was able to take the increases down to RPI
plus 1%, not only for this year, but for next year.
Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con): I welcome my
right hon. Friend’s statement and his intent to put the
interests of passengers at the heart of rail franchising.
The best interests of rail passengers in my constituency
would be served by the reinstatement of fast off-peak
services to Nuneaton, which were taken away by the
previous Labour Government in 2008. Will he come to
Nuneaton and meet me to discuss this vital issue at
greater length?
Mr McLoughlin: I am certainly more than happy to
meet my hon. Friend at Nuneaton station. I believe that
a date is going in my diary this afternoon—if it was not
already, it will be now.
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con): Suffolk
commuters will be disappointed by the delay, although
they are used to it as passengers, even though things
have improved under Abellio. Will my right hon. Friend
assure me that this will not deter or delay the needed
investment in the freight line from Felixstowe to Nuneaton?
Mr McLoughlin: The announcements I have made
today will have nothing to do with the freight line.
Again, I make the point to my hon. Friend that we are
seeing not only an increase in passenger numbers, but a
huge increase in the amount of freight using our railways—I
believe that the figure is about 60%. I know that most
colleagues and the general public welcome that very
much.
Mr Speaker: Order. Questions from 34 Back Benchers
were answered by the Secretary of State in 25 minutes
of exclusively Back-Bench time, which is an impressive
record. Might I suggest that rather than sending his
ministerial colleagues an Easter egg, the Secretary of
State should send a DVD of the statement and the
exchanges on it, which will be a great example for them
to follow in the future?
Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab): On a point of
order—