§ 12. Mr. Flanneryasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he is currently considering any proposal for investment by British Rail on the St. Pancras to Sheffield line.
§ Mr. David MitchellInter-city HST services, running at speeds up to 100 mph, were introduced in 1982–83 between Sheffield and St. Pancras. There are no further investment proposals for this line awaiting our approval.
§ Mr. FlanneryDoes the Minister appreciate that the big cities along that line — Derby, Nottingham, and specially Sheffield—feel that they are being demeaned and demoted and that the line is being run down? As a regular user of the line, may I ask him to accept from me that what he has just said is not the proper answer? Individual trains are faster, but there are far fewer of them and fewer carriages per train, with the result that over the day the service is much worse than it was before. Will the Minister talk to the councils, which have repeatedly met to discuss this because they believe that the line is about to disappear due to lack of investment?
§ Mr. MitchellThe hon. Gentleman claims that the line has been demeaned and demoted. Having introduced 100 mph high-speed trains and improved the journey time from Sheffield to St. Pancras by 20 minutes, and having achieved an improvement of 15 to 20 per cent. in the number of passengers using it, I can only say that many other services would like to be demeaned and demoted in the same way.