Rail Travel (Hansard, 8 July 1996)

§ 1. Dr. Spink
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to promote the use of rail travel. [34682]

§ The Secretary of State for Transport (Sir George Young)
The best way to get more people to use trains is to make rail services more attractive to customers. Inviting the private sector to run the railways has, for the first time since the war, introduced strong commercial incentives to promote rail travel. That is already bringing additional services, extra investment and better customer care.

§ Dr. Spink
Is my right hon. Friend aware that since Prism took over running the London-Tilbury-Southend line it has introduced new initiatives to attract more passengers to the line, including station improvements, increasing personal safety by providing guards at every station, extending booking office hours, and even introducing new rolling stock? Does he agree that those are the types of initiative that we need to get more people 2 on to the railway, and that those initiatives with privatisation represent a good deal for the taxpayer, for passengers and particularly for the environment?

§ Sir George Young
I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. I am glad that the change in culture at LTS is already beginning to manifest itself and that we are already seeing the type of improvements that he has outlined. I am sure that his constituents and all who use the line will welcome the at least £14 million of investment in station improvements, improved car park and station security, better facilities for disabled customers, automatic ticket gates, closed circuit television and customer help points at all LTS stations. That is the new culture that the private sector is introducing into our railways.

§ Miss Hoey
Is the Secretary of State aware of the deplorable state of Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road stations in my constituency, even though some money has now been given through the safer cities programme? Is he aware that what the public are most concerned about—and the factor that is most likely to get them back on to our railways—is safety, and that the matter of staffing must therefore be considered? Will he tell the new privatised companies that staffing must be a priority, and that even if we manage to get the stations cleaned up, until there are staff at the stations people—and particularly women at night—still will not use them?

§ Sir George Young
I am interested to hear what the hon. Lady says, and I agree that safety is a key factor in winning back customers for the railways. If she examines some of the proposals made by those who have won franchises, she will find that they are putting more staff at the sharp end for precisely the reason that she outlined. One of the recent franchises—I think that it was Chiltern Railways—proposed to have more staff in the waiting rooms on the stations, and Gatwick Express is certainly putting more staff on trains. Safety is a key factor, and I hope that it will not be a source of disagreement between 3 Government and Opposition. Whether we are talking about the Underground or the railways, we want more passengers, and security has a role to play in that.

§ Sir David Madel
As for rail travel on the tube, is it not a fact that the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen has ignored the agreed disputes procedure in the current dispute? Is not my right hon. Friend puzzled as to why ASLEF is taking so long to reply to the invitation to go to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service to try to get this matter sorted out so that my constituents can travel to work in a reasonable way?

§ Sir George Young
I very much regret that ASLEF has taken industrial action again today, which is causing unnecessary inconvenience to millions of commuters and Londoners. I hope that the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms Short) will respond to the invitation extended to her some time ago to deplore the strike. I very much regret that ASLEF has refused the invitation to arbitration extended by London Underground. I hope that it will think again, because many of the other unions have already come to a satisfactory agreement with London Underground and there is no reason why ASLEF should not do so as well.

§ Ms Short
Having walked from Euston to my office in Millbank with a very heavy bag, I can tell the Secretary of State that I hope that the strike will be settled as soon as possible. Are not his claims that rail use would expand under a privatised model belied by the statements in the Railtrack prospectus that Railtrack income is unlikely to benefit materially from any increase in passenger use", and that opportunities for expansion of freight operations are limited"? Will the Secretary of State confirm that while political bluster comes cheap, there are legal obligations to tell the truth in the prospectus? Will he now admit that it was an unforgivable act of political incompetence to throw vast sums of taxpayers' money at creating a rail system that is incapable of expansion at a time when congestion on the roads is growing inexorably?

§ Sir George Young
I listened with surprise to what the hon. Lady has just said because when she launched Labour's transport document, "Consensus for Change," she said: There is little point in denouncing the present government's record. I also regret that the hon. Lady did not take the opportunity that I extended to her a few moments ago to join me in condemning the strike action taken by London Underground train drivers. Her silence will not go unremarked.

§ Ms Short
I am worried about my feet.

§ Sir George Young
We are all worried about the hon. Lady's feet. If she used her influence to persuade ASLEF members to go back to work, her feet and those of everyone else would be spared much pain.
What matters for passengers is not Railtrack's statement, but the statement of those who are bidding for the franchise because they win the passengers. If she looks 4 at what they have said she will see that they are confident that they can dramatically expand the number of people travelling by rail.
The hon. Lady will have noted that English, Welsh and Scottish Railways has ordered 250 more locomotives for freight and that a number of operating companies are contemplating investment in new rolling stock. The picture is not so bleak as the hon. Lady would have us believe. She offers us a ticket to the past that no one will want to buy.