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10.14 pm
The Minister for Transport in London (Ms Glenda Jackson): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch (Mr. Cryer) on securing the debate--twice. I also congratulate him on putting on the record so succinctly the concerns and the experiences--the bad experiences--of his constituents in respect of the service that they are receiving from the London, Tilbury and Southend railway.
The Government have made it clear that poor performance on our railways is unacceptable--it will not be tolerated. We expect train operators to run punctual and reliable services, and we expect Railtrack to meet its obligations to passengers, freight customers and taxpayers to maintain and develop the rail network in a manner that offers proper value for money.
Hon. Members--indeed the whole country--will be aware that all franchisees and Railtrack were summoned to a meeting last week with the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Transport and me. As a result of that meeting, an action plan has been agreed to tackle performance problems across our railway network. Measures agreed include 800 new train drivers, 500 new vehicles, a joint hit squad to examine, identify and tackle the worst 50 black spots on our network, and a national troubleshooter team to tackle punctuality problems. We shall also introduce a new national passenger survey to find out what passengers really think about their rail services, and to help measure performance across the network.
That action plan is only a first step to delivering short-term improvements for passengers. We expect to see progressive, year-on-year improvements from the industry starting over the next 12 months. Next February, there will be a wider-ranging national railway summit to examine how to tackle medium to longer-term performance problems.
My hon. Friend spoke specifically and succinctly of the difficulties on the London, Tilbury and Southend line. I hope that he will be interested in a stroll down memory lane. When I first entered the House, the LTS line was dubbed the misery line. Hon. Members from both sides related horror stories of their constituents' experiences on a service that was going not from bad to worse, but from worse to execrable. That was before rail privatisation, and shows the previous Administration's failure to invest adequately in our national railway system.
However, it would be quite wrong to pretend that performance on the LTS line has not improved since that time. Some would say that it was impossible for it to get worse, and as my hon. Friend has detailed, it is by no means perfect. Despite the fact that 96 per cent. of LTS trains have arrived within five minutes of their scheduled time--a statistic that I regret to say many other train operators cannot match--problems with the renewal of overhead line equipment has caused cancellations, and season ticket holders are receiving discounts as a result. As we all know, what passengers and season ticket holders want more than discounts is certainty that the train will be there when they arrive at the station, and that it will reach its destination at the designated time.
My hon. Friend referred to his constituent's particularly harrowing experience. He wrote to me on this issue, and I promised that I would raise it with the Association of Train Operating Companies, which I meet regularly. Last
month, I reminded ATOC of the need for train operators to be mindful of their responsibility not to leave passengers stranded when services are disrupted. It is vital that train operators consider the personal security of their passengers during their whole journey, particularly at night, and, I would argue, even more particularly when the passenger is female.
Train operators are required to use all reasonable endeavours to deliver passengers to their destination station when services are disrupted. Although they are not formally obliged to do so, ATOC has assured me that train operators take passengers to their final destination when that is practicable or necessary for their personal security.
I raised this issue with the managing director of LTS, Mr. Bird, who said that he would speak directly to my hon. Friend. I trust that that is indeed what happened.
My hon. Friend expressed fears that there may be proposals to close the services that serve his constituency and what he referred to as the Tilbury loop. Services on the loop, as elsewhere on LTS, are protected by the passenger service requirement, which guarantees a minimum level of service.
I understand that, with the franchising director's agreement, LTS has rearranged the service pattern on the loop to increase frequency on the Ockendon branch, and to provide direct services to London. That has allowed LTS to run direct services to Chafford Hundred for the Lakeside shopping complex.
My hon. Friend referred to reductions in services on the line. I understand that the winter timetable has involved a cut of one train from both morning and afternoon peak times--a reduction from the summer timetable of, I believe, 12 to 11 trains in the morning and from 11 to 10 in the afternoon. I will, however, look into the specific issue that my hon. Friend raised.
Although I am pleased that more people are travelling by train, I accept that has resulted in serious overcrowding on certain London commuter services--certainly, as my hon. Friend pointed out, on LTS. All train operators have a general obligation to avoid excessive overcrowding, but more specific controls apply to London commuter services such as LTS at peak times.
Earlier this year, the franchising director required five London train operators to develop action plans to alleviate the serious overcrowding on their services. LTS has so far remained within the contractual limits set by the franchising director, but, like other operators, it has experienced an increase in passenger numbers over the last year. I expect the franchising director to ensure that, where network capacity allows, all operators of London commuter services take immediate action to reduce any severe overcrowding that may occur now or in the future.
We have made it clear that train operators' performance will be a key criterion when it comes to franchise renewal. Those who perform well will find that we are constructive partners. We are willing to renegotiate franchises, including franchise extensions, when that offers benefits to passengers and good value for money to the taxpayer; but our warning to train operators who perform poorly is simple and clear. Those who perform badly will not have a long-term future in the industry.
Last month, the franchising director announced a new package of benefits for LTS passengers. I was particularly pleased that it resulted from a voluntary renegotiation by the franchising director and Prism Rail of LTS's franchise plan commitments, rather than being recompense to passengers for poor performance. The package clearly signalled a commitment to responding to passengers' needs, and I hope that it was welcomed by them.
I accept that, as a result, some existing slam-door trains will not be replaced as soon as was originally agreed, although the majority will be replaced within a year with new trains already ordered by LTS. I know--and my hon. Friend raised the point this evening--that there is concern about the safety of older rolling stock. Slam-door rolling stock is not necessarily unsafe, but it has been criticised for its performance in certain types of accident. The Health and Safety Commission has recommended that all mark one stock should be withdrawn by 1 January 2003 unless it has been re-bodied or modified.
The new deal commits LTS to replacing its remaining slam-door stock progressively with modern sliding-door vehicles by the end of March 2002. Its fleet currently numbers 69 four-car units, of which 17 have sliding doors. By November 1999, 44 new four-car units will be in service, and by March 2002 a fleet of 72 four-car units will all have sliding doors.
The new deal offers a considerable package of additional benefits to LTS passengers to offset the delay in replacing the slam-door trains. LTS's passenger charter punctuality standard and trigger for season ticket discounts has been increased by 1 per cent., with immediate effect. Compensation for delays of 60 minutes or more has increased from 20 per cent. to 50 per cent. Contractual thresholds for cancellations and capacity have been tightened, so that enforcement action can be triggered at a lower level. Those thresholds will be further tightened in April 2000.
To help to meet the growing demand for commuter rail services into London, LTS has committed to extending its scheme for cheap early morning season tickets to more stations from May 1999, providing travel to Fenchurch Street at a discount of at least 20 per cent. A total of £2 million will be spent on service quality improvements, including real-time passenger information systems by the end of March 2000. A further £50,000 will be spent in each year until the end of the franchise on providing further staff coverage at stations. I hope that that fact affords some comfort to my hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch.
Other welcome benefits included improvements to facilities for disabled passengers, including disabled toilets and boarding ramps at all 11 of LTS' main stations. LTS will seek accreditation for all its stations under my Department's secure stations scheme, and similar accreditation for car parks at its stations. Improved cycle storage facilities have been promised at a further six stations.
The new deal committed LTS to improving transport integration between its services and other public transport services and commercial development, moving towards our vision of a railway that is integrated with other modes of transport and allows people to travel by public transport to the places that they want to reach. In particular, LTS has committed £700,000 to improving pedestrian access to the Lakeside shopping centre from Chafford Hundred
station. It has committed to building further links with bus services in the local area. It will work with Great Eastern railway to develop season tickets between London and Southend that can be used on either train operators' services.
On our plans for the future of passenger rail services, renationalisation--not a word that my hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch uttered, but it is clearly still his dream--of the railways would be very expensive and cannot be a priority given the other demands on public expenditure. Therefore, our task is to improve the railways as we find them, not as we wish them to be.
We will introduce a new strategic rail authority to provide a clear, coherent and strategic programme for the development of the railways. The SRA will provide a better means of influencing the use of the significant amounts of public funds that we provide to the industry, to the benefit of passengers and taxpayers.
The Loyal Address on 24 November has now given us the go-ahead to publish a draft Bill to introduce the necessary legislation to establish the SRA. Given the extraordinary events that are taking place down the
corridor and the even more extraordinary events that are taking place in the official Opposition, legislation could come sooner, rather than later.
However soon we legislate, it will take at least 18 months to get the SRA up and running. That is why the Deputy Prime Minister announced at Blackpool the setting up of a shadow SRA. That will use existing organisations--the British Railways Board and Office of Passenger Rail Franchising--both of which will be under new leadership by next spring, when the new shadow authority will be up and running.
I acknowledge that not all the challenges that face the rail industry can be solved overnight. It is clear that, in many instances, the passenger and taxpayer are still not getting the best deal in the privatised railway; indeed, my hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch gave us details of that fact. We are under no illusions about the scale of the challenge that we have set ourselves, but we are determined to work with the rail industry to achieve our goal.
Question put and agreed to.
3 Dec 1998 : Column 1147Adjourned accordingly at twenty-nine minutes past Ten o'clock.
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