(Easington) (Lab):...On
impact assessments and how we can have confidence that DOHL will
improve performance, we can look at past performance. I remind
the shadow Minister that the operator of last resort currently
runs 14 franchises. Since the east coast main line, which serves
my region, was taken over by LNER, revenues have grown
substantially. Since Transpennine Express
was brought back into public sector operations in May 2023, we
have seen cancellations decrease from an average of around 20% to
5%. In the last quarter, Transpennine
which is run by the operator of last resort, DOHL, was the most
improved operator in terms of cancellation scores compared with
the same period last year...
(Bridlington and The
Wolds) (Con):...I return to the topic of today's debate.
Privatisation of the railways was necessary because British Rail
was not working, either for rail users or the British taxpayer.
However, the process of privatising rail operators has not been
perfect, in part because franchises operate monopolies; in that
respect, they are no different from the nationalised services
that they replaced. However, where genuine competition exists,
rail privatisation has been a success. On the east coast main
line, the Government-subsidised franchise, London North Eastern
Railway, competes with open access operators Hull
Trains, Grand Central and Lumo. That
has led to cheaper prices for users, high satisfaction and
greater punctuality, and inter-city services have been extended
to new towns and cities across Yorkshire and the north-east. One
of those operators, Hull Trains, now runs two
direct services a day between Beverley and London, and I would
love to see them extended to Bridlington and Driffield, just up
the line in my constituency...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport ():...Turning to amendment
11, train operators are already monitored under their existing
contracts against targets for punctuality, reliability and
service quality. They are also held to account for managing
within pre-set cost budget limits each financial year. Driving up
operators' performance in those areas is vital, and the
Government will continue to review train operator performance
regularly in those and other areas. This has been an early
priority for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. For
example, in her first weeks in office, Ministers held meetings
with the managing directors of Avanti West Coast, Transpennine
Express and their Network Rail counterparts to set clear
expectations for immediate improvement. In parallel with these
arrangements, the Government are developing detailed proposals
for holding the future Great British Railways to account for
performance. This will form part of the broader package of reform
that we will set out in the forthcoming railways Bill. We expect
these arrangements will be in place long before the five-year
reviews proposed in a number of amendments tabled...
...Amendment 15, tabled by the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid
Kent, considers the Bill's potential effects on open access
operators. The Bill is specifically about the ownership of
services currently operated under the contract with the Secretary
of State and Scottish and Welsh Ministers. Public ownership of
those services will not prevent open access services from running
as they do now. The report proposed by her amendment is therefore
unnecessary. However, I take this opportunity to reassure her
about the role of open access in the future in the context of the
Government's wider reforms. How we make use of network capacity
and grant access is fundamental to the performance of the railway
and what it delivers for all its users. Open access operators
such as Hull Trains, Lumo and
Grand Central are a valuable part of our railway. We are keen for
such services to continue to operate alongside publicly owned
services, where they add value and capacity to the network...
The Secretary of State for Transport ():...There will be immediate
benefits. Our railways will serve the British public, be they
passengers or the taxpayer, and as we bring services into public
ownership, we will drive up performance. We will remove the
burden of the millions of pounds squandered every year in private
sector management fees. We will bring services into public hands
as soon as their contracts expire, but if operators fail to
deliver in line with those contracts—if they continue to let
passengers down time and time again—I will not hesitate to use
every tool at my disposal to drive up standards, including
terminating contracts early where appropriate. In my meetings
with Avanti and Transpennine
and in the rail Minister's meetings with Northern, London North
Eastern Railway, East Midlands Railway and CrossCountry, as well
as their Network Rail counterparts, we have been clear that we
will not tolerate for any longer the poor performance that the
last Government tolerated. My officials will drive improvements
using the mechanisms in those contracts...
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