Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take to
improve train services in the north of England.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport () (Con)
My Lords, Ministers recognise that the current service provision
is far below the standard that passengers rightly expect. The
Government constantly review operators’ performance, and all
options regarding contracts remain on the table to ensure we
reach a long-term solution that works for passengers in the north
and across the rail network.
(LD)
Recent Office of Rail and Road data exposes the scale of the
misuse of P-coding the last-minute cancellations by Transpennine Express.
In the month up to 4 February, TPE cancelled almost a quarter of
its services, and Avanti West Coast was not far behind on 17%.
These train companies have exploited this loophole to the great
inconvenience of passengers and have misled the public. Can the
Minister assure us that they will not be rewarded with new
contracts?
(Con)
I am not entirely sure that the picture is quite as the noble
Baroness has set out. There is not necessarily a misuse of
P-codes; the issue is that there has to be a point in the day
beyond which a cancellation counts and has to be published as a
same-day cancellation and the period before, when a cancellation
can happen for all sorts of different reasons, including
engineering works and a reduction in timetables, asked for by the
department to ensure reliability. We are working very closely
with the ORR on the transparency of the cancellation data that is
out there. There will of course be P-code data, but there will be
other data around the cancellation of train services. When it
comes to performance figures, all of the data is taken into
account.
(Lab Co-op)
My Lords, I caught the train from Edinburgh Waverley at 9.30 am
and got here in plenty of time for Questions because I travelled
on the publicly owned LNER. When are the Government going to
learn that lesson?
(Con)
My Lords, I went to Liverpool the Friday before last; I got there
on time and I returned on time. There are journeys across the
country, and across the north, that work on time and to a great
level of passenger experience. However, it is the case that,
where services are not working properly, we need to hold the
operators to account and make them better.
Lord McLoughlin (Con)
My Lords, I draw attention to my interest as chairman of
Transport for the North. There is no doubt that rail passengers
in the north have had a torrid time, be it on TPE, Avanti or
Northern. What can the Government do to reassure travelling
passengers in those areas directly affected that the train
companies have now got the right mechanisms in hand to ensure
that future services will improve, whether it is industrial
relations or other related matters? There is an issue around
P-coding, but P-coding does give forward notification and that
should be counted in the overall cancellations.
(Con)
There are many things that the Government are doing, because not
all train operating companies in the north are the same; they all
have slightly different challenges and some have been able to
address those challenges more quickly than others in certain
circumstances. The challenges fall into three areas. The first is
absence and sickness, which is higher than it really should be,
and that needs to be addressed. The second is rest day working
and overtime. Noble Lords will all know about the national
industrial action that happens periodically, and there is also
other industrial action around rest day working and more
localised disputes. Those are having very significant impacts on
services. The last, in some circumstances, is driver departure,
as some drivers are choosing the leave the industry. As my noble
friend points out, those are the sorts of things we have to
consider. We have got action plans for each of the train
operating companies, but each one will have slightly different
challenges to address.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister has just described a railway that is in a
mess. Is the new Great British railways going to sort this out?
If the answer is yes, why are we not seeing a Bill to make it
happen? Does the Minister know when such a Bill is going to be
introduced?
(Con)
I think I have mentioned at the Dispatch Box many times that the
Bill for rail reform will be introduced when parliamentary time
allows. It is worth pointing out that an awful lot can be done
before legislation is put in place. One key thing that can be
carried out is workforce reform. We have to be absolutely
realistic about the challenge that our railways face. Without
careful and reasonable reform, there will be no long-term future
for the railway. I put it to the noble Lord that if he has any
influence whatever among the leaders of the trade unions, he asks
them to put forward to their membership the packages that the
Government have put forward. We need to understand whether or not
we are going to be able to reform the workforce; if we are not,
the consequences will be quite severe.
(PC)
My Lords, will the Minister take this opportunity to kill
stone-dead the reports that are circulating that, despite Avanti
West Coast’s appalling performance, the Government are still
minded to renew its contract?
(Con)
I cannot possibly respond to those reports, but all options
remain on the table with regard to all the different contracts as
they come up for renewal. There are very well set out processes
involving independent evaluation of performance, and all those
things will be gone through when it comes to considering Avanti
West Coast’s contract.
(Con)
My Lords, I had the pleasure of travelling on the same train as
the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, this morning—but I obviously was
not in the same part of the train as him. I would like to comment
on the remarks made by the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson. While
those of us in the north are irritated by the services provided
by some of the providers, we are also waiting with bated breath
for a decision by the Government to once and for all sort out the
links that are necessary between our northern cities, east to
west. When are these going to happen?
(Con)
That is part of the complex web. The Government want to invest
billions of pounds in rail infrastructure for the north. However,
if we are unable to operate the services as the train operating
companies would like to do, that will become increasingly
difficult. It is important that, as we invest billions of pounds
across the north, we do so with a constructive and collaborative
relationship with the unions and the workforce, to provide the
modern seven-day railway that we need.
(CB)
My Lords, at least the Avanti service this morning from the
north-west ran, although it was 20 minutes late in getting to
Euston. The noble Baroness was good enough to raise these issues
during a meeting with a few weeks ago. She will recall that one of the
issues raised was the point just made by her noble friend about
east-west travel. One suggestion was that the Hellifield link
should be reopened to create a second line of route across the
Pennines. The noble Baroness kindly said that she and the
Transport Minister would consider coming to see the situation
first hand. She has received requests from the local Member of
Parliament for Ribble Valley and the leader of Lancashire County
Council, and I wonder when that might be expedited.
(Con)
I am grateful to the noble Lord for reminding me of that. I will
go and give the Rail Minister a bit of a kick and see if we can
get him on his way.
(LD)
My Lords, I think the Minister will agree with me that one of the
ways the railways could be improved would be by stopping the
strike action and getting things back to normal. On that basis,
could she tell me whether, on strike days, the Government still
pay subsidies to Avanti trains for providing no service whatever,
or whether they withhold the subsidy that it gets on a daily
basis for running the railways? I do not expect the number right
now, but to within £10 million would be helpful.
(Con)
I am not sure about the subsidies to which the noble Lord refers.
There are complex contractual arrangements around what Avanti is
entitled to, and the Government make sure that we abide by those
contracts. The key here—I do not think I have emphasised this
sufficiently previously—is that we need to ensure that we get the
workers back to work and get the workforce reform that we need. I
am very concerned that rail workers are being led by their union
leaders towards a point where there will be no long-term jobs for
them, and no railway system for passengers either. It is not the
case that when a railway worker strikes they lose their pay just
for that day; we are also weakening the system as a whole for the
future.
(Lab)
My Lords, is it not the case, though, that the publicly run rail
service is far more effective than the ones run by Avanti and the
private sector? What lessons has the Minister learned from the
difference in performance figures between those in public and
private ownership?
(Con)
There are all sorts of reasons and criteria as to why one train
operating company runs better than another. Often, it can be due
to engineering works—if you are upgrading a main line, for
example. There are all sorts of different things that can happen.
However, the Government do learn lessons from train operators’
performance, comparing one against the other. We take those
lessons forward and, particularly for those TOCs in the north, we
make sure that those lessons are put in their action plans.
