Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Railway Infrastructure

Thursday 13 July 2023 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Paul Howell asked the Minister about steps being taken to improve railway infrastructure, focusing on the Leamside line project and Ferryhill station.
  • The Minister praised Paul Howell for his support of rail infrastructure in the north-east and acknowledged his role in sponsoring funding for the Ferryhill station project.
  • Luke Pollard inquired about railway ticket offices being essential infrastructure and questioned the plan to close one in Plymouth, asking how staff would be redeployed.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Paul Howell
Transport
Context

The MP is concerned about railway infrastructure improvements, specifically mentioning the Leamside line project and its importance for resilience, capacity, and economic benefits.

Question

What steps he is taking to improve railway infrastructure. I thank the Minister for his answer, but the most critical rail infrastructure needed in the north-east by far is the Leamside line project, starting with Ferryhill station. Its importance cannot be overstated; it is about resilience, capacity and levelling up. Can he tell us when we will get spades in the ground to show our commitment to constituents in Ferryhill and let them see the economic benefit that these stations will bring?

Answer from Huw Merriman

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who is a champion of rail in the north-east. I thank him for his long-standing support for this scheme and for sponsoring the bid for restoring your railway ideas funding to reopen a station at Ferryhill. The updated strategic outline business case for the Ferryhill-Middlesbrough proposal is with the Department and we will be looking at it shortly.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Provided context but did not specify when spades will be in the ground or provide a timeline.

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Q2 Paul Howell
Transport
Context

The MP is concerned about railway infrastructure improvements, specifically mentioning the Leamside line project and its importance for resilience, capacity, and economic benefits.

Question

What steps he is taking to improve railway infrastructure. I thank the Minister for his answer, but the most critical rail infrastructure needed in the north-east by far is the Leamside line project, starting with Ferryhill station. Its importance cannot be overstated; it is about resilience, capacity and levelling up. Can he tell us when we will get spades in the ground to show our commitment to constituents in Ferryhill and let them see the economic benefit that these stations will bring?

Answer from Huw Merriman

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who is a champion of rail in the north-east. I thank him for his long-standing support for this scheme and for sponsoring the bid for restoring your railway ideas funding to reopen a station at Ferryhill. The updated strategic outline business case for the Ferryhill-Middlesbrough proposal is with the Department and we will be looking at it shortly.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Provided context but did not specify when spades will be in the ground or provide a timeline.

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Q3 Luke Pollard Labour (Co-op) Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
Transport
Context

The MP is concerned about Great Western Railway's plans to close the ticket office in Plymouth, which will lead to a significant reduction in roles at Plymouth station and across the south-west network.

Question

Railway ticket offices are essential railway infrastructure. The Minister has said that his hope is that staff will be redeployed on to the concourse, so can he comment on the fact that the planning assumption for Great Western Railway, once it closes the ticket office in Plymouth, is that it will cut the number of roles at Plymouth station by 42%, as part of a 40% cut in the workforce across the network in the south-west? Is that his actual plan? Can he also publish the letter of instruction sent by his Department to train operating companies requiring them to start the consultation on ticket office closures?

Answer from Huw Merriman

I certainly intend to be as transparent as you would expect in this regard, Mr Speaker, so I will look into the hon. Member's request. I re-emphasise that this is a consultation by the train operators. His own train operator will no doubt take his comments about the station in his constituency on board. That will then be assessed by the passenger body and, if matters need to be worked upon, I would expect those two bodies to do that. If that cannot occur, it moves to an ultimate determination in the Department for Transport.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not confirm the plan or promise to publish the letter of instruction.

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