Rail Electrification:
South Wales
(Gower) (Lab):
What steps he is taking to electrify the rail network to Swansea
and further west. [900455]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Chris
Grayling): I congratulate the hon. Lady on her election
to this House. Electrification work is continuing on the Great
Western main line, but the good news for her constituents and
others in south Wales is that the new generation of electric
trains will arrive in Cardiff and Swansea this autumn, providing
more seats and better journey experiences. That is good news for
rail users in south Wales and the west country.
: It has been
reported that the Secretary of State is preparing to announce yet
further delays to the Great Western main line electrification
programme, and my constituents in Gower are fed up with the
contempt that the Government continue to show them on investment.
The Secretary of State has said that the programme will happen,
but will he promise that it will not be delayed any further? We
need to make Swansea the gateway to west Wales.
: I appreciate the
importance of transport to Swansea, and that is precisely why I
am doing what the hon. Lady’s constituents will want, which is to
deliver them a better journey experience not in several years’
time but this autumn. They will have a new generation of trains
that will provide much better journeys to London, which is
exactly the kind of service they want. When the first new train
comes to Swansea, I hope that she will be there to see it and
will realise what a difference it will make to her constituents’
rail journeys in south Wales and elsewhere.
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TOPICAL
QUESTIONS
(North Tyneside)
(Lab): Will the Minster say whether the new rolling
stock for Merseytravel, HS2 and Crossrail will be procured using
private or public finance, and why that is the case? [900479]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Chris
Grayling): There has been a long tradition, under
Governments of both parties, of a railway where we lease trains
from the private sector. There have equally been occasions, as in
the procurement of railway carriages for the east coast main line
and the Great Western main line, when the Government have stepped
in and taken that decision. We will have to look at which
packages are available for those individual schemes. In the case
of Merseytravel, the hon. Lady will have to talk to the
Labour-controlled Merseyside councils.
(Bristol East)
(Lab): When the Chancellor came to Bristol in May, he
refused to confirm whether electrification of the Great Western
line into the city centre would go ahead. Will the Transport
Secretary confirm whether it has been deferred, as we were told
last year, or has it really been ditched?
: As I said earlier,
we are focused on delivering service improvements right now. The
electrification process is continuing—there is no secret about
the fact that this project has not gone as well as expected—but
the key thing for the hon. Lady’s constituents is that, from this
autumn, there will be brand-new trains, more capacity, a better
service and six trains an hour from Bristol to London. This is
really good news for her constituents.
