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  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether each local authority comprising Rail North will be asked to approve that body’s response to the consultation for the Northern Rail and TransPennine Express franchises.

    Claire Perry

    We have been working closely with Rail North on the response to the Northern and TransPennine Express consultation, which has been developed jointly. Rail North have confirmed through their own processes that they are in agreement with publishing the response as a joint document.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions representatives of his Department have met Rail North since the close of the consultation for the Northern Rail and TransPennine Express franchises; and who represented Rail North at each such meeting.

    Claire Perry

    We have been working closely with Rail North on developing the specifications for the Invitation To Tenders, with Rail North officers embedded with the Department’s project teams for many months. In addition Rail North senior managers have attended regular meetings with the Department. Officials from the Department have also met with and presented to Rail North Leaders.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for how long Pacer trains will continue to operate on Northern Rail services; and when all Pacer trains will be retired.

    Claire Perry

    We are committed to improving services for passengers across the North. We recognise that Pacers fall short of passengers’ expectations, which is why in our Invitation To Tender, we will specifically ask bidders to set out plans for how they will phase out these trains from the Northern Rail franchise, either in their core proposition or as an option.

    Sadly, the last Northern franchise, let in 2004, contained no such provision.

    Further details will be set out in the Invitation To Tender for the Northern franchise, which will be published shortly.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what powers he has to vary, suspend and terminate the current tendering process for Northern Rail and TransPennine Express franchises.

    Claire Perry

    As part of the Department’s standard procurement process, the Secretary of State expressly reserves the right to make whatever changes he sees fit to the structure and timing of the procurement process or to cancel the process in its entirety at any stage. This arrangement is not particular to the Northern and Transpennine Express franchises.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what operational regulations or arrangements are in place to ensure that Northern Rail and TransPennine Express services always have another member of staff on board the train in addition to the driver.

    Claire Perry

    The Department does not specify the numbers of staff or how they should be deployed, as this is something that the operators are much better placed to understand and manage than we are.

    Train operating companies have to abide by all appropriate health and safety requirements.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what input Rail North will have into formulating the response to the consultation for the Northern Rail and TransPennine express franchise; and whether this response will be a joint response with his Department.

    Claire Perry

    We have been working closely with Rail North on the response to the Northern and TransPennine Express consultation, which has been developed jointly and will be published as a joint document.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with bidders for the Northern Rail franchise covering the Colne to Blackpool South service via Preston on the replacement of Pacer trains with rolling stock that has not previously been used on London Underground.

    Claire Perry

    The Department has held discussions with bidders for the Northern franchise to discuss and receive feedback on a range of specification areas, including rolling stock and the intended service specifications across the new franchise.

    Our specifications for the Northern franchise will be set out in the Invitation to Tender document, which will be published shortly.

  • Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the performance of Govia in operating the Thameslink franchise.

    Claire Perry

    The Department’s senior officials attend four weekly meetings with the train operators senior management team, where all aspects of performance under the franchise agreement can be scrutinised and challenged. In terms of Govia Thameslink Railway’s (GTR’s) delivery of services to passengers, while operational performance on its Great Northern route is robust, performance on its Thameslink route has been poor.

    Ministers and officials have held a number of meetings with Network Rail, GTR and the Office of Rail Regulation to discuss the poor performance on the Thameslink route. This has resulted in GTR and Network Rail publishing a high level improvement plan on their websites which sets out the actions they are taking to turn things around. They have also committed to updating the plan by the end of February with specific commitments on the outputs that will be delivered. Furthermore, the Department has secured a commitment that Network Rail and GTR shall provide a monthly report on progress towards their committed outputs and publish this on their websites, so that passengers have transparency on what is being delivered.

    The Government is determined to hold GTR and Network Rail to account for the delivery of their joint initiatives to improve Thameslink performance and, ultimately, provide the levels of service that passengers deserve.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Hitachi and Agility Trains on future maintenance depots for the new Intercity Express Programme trains in use for (a) Great Western and (b) East Coast services.

    Claire Perry

    Staffing issues at maintenance depots on the East Coast and Great Western are a matter for Hitachi and the respective Train Operator. The Department does not get involved.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Great Western direct award will specify that guards will be responsible for the opening and closing of doors on the new Intercity Express Programme trains.

    Claire Perry

    Negotiations are continuing between the Department for Transport and First Great Western over the detail of the next franchise Direct Award.

    As a matter of general policy, the Department does not specify numbers of staff or how they should be deployed as this is an operational matter; which the train operator is better placed to manage and understand.

    However, we do support the resilience and efficiency offered by a train fleet and infrastructure which can operate as Driver Only Operation (DOO) as set out in the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) Specification which is in the public domain.