Govia Thameslink Statement 3.27 pm The Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport (Baroness Sugg)
(Con) My Lords, with the leave of the House I will repeat in
the form of a Statement the Answer given by my honourable friend
the Minister of State for Transport to an Urgent Question in the
other place. The Statement is as follows: ...Request free trial
Govia Thameslink
Statement
3.27 pm
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport (Baroness Sugg) (Con)
My Lords, with the leave of the House I will repeat in the
form of a Statement the Answer given by my honourable
friend the Minister of State for Transport to an Urgent
Question in the other place. The Statement is as follows:
“The Shadow Transport Secretary has asked about the current
situation on GTR and about electrification. I will answer
each in turn.
Performance on GTR has been unacceptable since the
timetable change on 20 May. GTR is working to increase the
predictability and reliability of journeys on its network,
including reducing the number of on-the-day cancellations.
On 15 July, it will implement an interim timetable. This
will allow GTR to slowly build up services to the
originally planned May timetable. We have announced that
passengers affected by severe disruption on GTR will
receive special compensation; an announcement will follow
shortly.
We have also commissioned the independent Glaister review
to make sure we learn lessons and so that this does not
happen again. We have started a formal review of the
franchise to establish whether GTR has met its contractual
obligations in the planning and delivery of the May
timetable. We will not hesitate to take tough action
against it if it is found to have been negligent.
On electrification, the Government are clear that
passengers expect high-quality rail services and we are
committed to electrification where it delivers passenger
benefits and value for money. We will also take advantage
of state-of-the-art, new technology to improve rail
journeys.
Over recent days, there has been speculation over the
trans-Pennine route upgrade. I can clarify for colleagues
that the trans-Pennine route upgrade will account for
one-third of our anticipated expenditure for rail
enhancements nationwide for the next spending period. It
will be the biggest single investment we will make during
this period, demonstrating our commitment to improving
passenger journeys in the north.
The department is currently awaiting Network Rail’s final
project plan. We have instructed it to prioritise those
elements which bring the quickest passenger benefits. We
will update the House on this in due course”.
3.29 pm
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(Lab)
An industry readiness board was set up to review and direct
“industry programmes for Thameslink 2018 operational
readiness to minimise all risks associated with entry into
service and ongoing sustained operations”. The Department for
Transport sat on that board. Bearing in mind that the
Secretary of State for Transport claims that he has no
responsibility for the current new timetable shambles, why
was the Department for Transport on that readiness board with
its operational readiness remit?
Secondly, the Secretary of State has set up an inquiry into
the causes of the current new timetable problems under the
chair of the Office of Rail and Road. Some think that the
ORR, which also sat on the readiness board, is one of the
causes of the current problems through its cost-reduction
demands on Network Rail and their impact on train planning
costs and manpower. Who, then, will be considering the role
of the ORR in respect of the current Thameslink timetable
problems, since clearly that person cannot credibly be the
chair of the ORR?
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My Lords, on the operational readiness board, the timetable
was planned to introduce major changes and rail companies
communicated these changes extensively to their passengers.
However, the level of disruption caused by the introduction
of the timetable was obviously not anticipated. We are
working closely with GTR to put this right. One issue was
that the operational readiness board did not anticipate the
disruption, so the review will cover that.
On the review itself, Professor Stephen Glaister, who is
chairing it, is from the independent rail regulator, the ORR.
The inquiry will consider why the industry as a whole failed
to produce and implement an effective timetable. There are
various independent people on that review and they will
consider the role of the ORR, train operating companies and,
indeed, the Department for Transport.
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(LD)
My Lords, I am interested in why the Government are suddenly
so concerned about the appalling service from GTR when
Southern, for instance, has been in a state of prolonged
crisis for years and passengers have been left to suffer. Can
the Minister explain the Government’s sudden change of heart?
Given the information from the operational readiness board,
why did the Government not take the sensible step of
deferring the new timetables? The Minister said in a Written
Answer to me that the Secretary of State had not seen the
minutes that warned of this impending chaos. Why was the
Secretary of State not informed of the situation? When will
the terms of compensation be precisely known?
Turning to electrification, the Government are very coy about
the whole issue but we have rumbled the Secretary of State:
when he skirts around a subject, it always means bad news.
What is the Minister’s reaction to today’s ORR report, which
warns that Network Rail has deferred £441 million of renewals
this year, adding further to the backlog of work it needs to
catch up on in CP6? Why do the Government want to phase out
diesel cars while promoting diesel railways?
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My Lords, on GTR and Southern, obviously there has been awful
disruption on Southern in recent years. The franchise was
designed to deliver the Thameslink programme and the
department has been keeping a close eye on that. However,
with the introduction of the new timetable, services have
further failed.
On the information provided to the Secretary of State and
around the wider timetable changes, I fully acknowledge that
the correct information was not given to the Secretary of
State. That is why we have set up this inquiry: to ensure
that we learn lessons for the future and investigate what
went wrong.
On compensation, we are working hard with the train operating
companies and Network Rail on the exact details, which will
be announced in the coming days.
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(CB)
My Lords, on 4 June the Secretary of State told the House of
Commons, in relation to GTR:
“Let me be absolutely clear: passengers on these franchises
are facing totally unsatisfactory levels of
service”.—[Official Report, 4/6/18; col. 1190.]
He added that,
“my immediate priority is to ensure that the industry
improves train services to an acceptable level as quickly as
possible”.—[Official Report, 4/6/18; col. 1194.]
As a commuter on the Thameslink route from Radlett to City
Thameslink, may I tell the Minister that the service has not
improved over the last month? Indeed, it is getting worse.
Will the Minister please tell me and the House why the
Secretary of State has not done what he promised to do a
month ago?
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My Lords, I apologise to the noble Lord for the experience he
has had on his commute, and to all passengers. Resolution of
this issue remains an absolute priority. GTR is currently
working towards implementing a temporary timetable on 15
July, with the aim of bringing stability and performance
improvements for passengers. Like many passengers on
Thameslink and Great Northern, I am frustrated that the
service is not stabilising sooner. GTR has a new CEO, who
starts on Monday. He has been given a clear mandate to
improve stability, and we expect the timetable change to
start delivering improved reliability and stability to the
service.
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(Con)
My Lords, given the chaos that is now reigning nationwide on
the railway network, I think it is generally admitted that
the time has surely come to scrap the ridiculous HS2 project
and spend the billions of pounds saved on putting the rest of
the network right.
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My Lords, my noble friend never fails to disappoint me by
raising HS2 in rail questions. The Government remain firmly
committed to HS2. One of the reasons for the introduction of
the new timetable was to ensure that we have more capacity,
since passenger demand has doubled in recent years. HS2 will
help deliver that much-needed capacity.
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(Lab)
My Lords, yesterday the Secretary of State tried to reassure
the people of the north that the trans-Pennine
electrification schemes would go ahead. Does that apply to
all the electrification schemes in the north, such as the
Lakes Line, which was refused recently? On the subject of the
Lakes Line, will the Government look seriously at the way in
which Northern Rail stopped running trains on a whole railway
line, with no trains at all for four weeks, and are now only
running half the trains? The Government seem to be endorsing
this as a great success.
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My Lords, I certainly would not call that a great success. I
am pleased that they started the restoration of the service
yesterday, albeit less a service, helped by replacement
buses. Trans-Pennine is our biggest planned investment
project on the existing railway and is due to start next
spring. It will be a rolling programme of enhancements,
including both major civil engineering and electrification.
On the Lakes Line in particular, we want to deliver
additional direct services between Windermere and Manchester.
These will first be delivered using a bi-mode train, adapted
from a former electric-only train. Subject to the business
case, there will also be brand new trains on the route with
more seats and better on-board facilities. I know that
Northern is exploring the possibility of introducing an
alternatively fuelled train on the route.
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(CB)
My Lords, the House will appreciate the concern that the
Minister has for those of us who travel on Govia Thameslink
Railway. It introduced a novel piece of advice for those of
us trying to get to London this morning: that we should get
on a train going north, in the hope that we stood a better
chance of getting on a train going south further up the line.
At the weekend, we were excited at the news that Govia might
lose the franchise. Will the Minister assure the House that
that is a serious possibility? Seven weeks later, the trains
are still in a dreadful mess and there is no communication
with passengers, and there seems to be no concern from the
management.
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My Lords, I have heard the terrible first-hand experiences of
family and friends, and many Members of this House. I
entirely agree that GTR needs to get much better in the
provision of information, so that passengers could at least
attempt to plan their commute. On the hard review, announced
by the Secretary of State, the department has begun an
external audit of GTR by professionals with decades of
experience in the rail industry. This will be a thorough
examination of the performance and management of the
franchise. The initial audit will take a number of weeks and
will provide the department with evidence on which to base
our next steps. Once complete, the audit could lead to the
introduction of a remedial plan, a significant fine for GTR
or, as a last resort—and if it best serves the interests of
the passengers—the removal of the franchise from the
operator.
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