Transport Questions in the House

[whole diary]

[John R]

T4. [180528] Andrew George (St. Ives) (LD): The Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Glasgow, South (Mr. Harris) wrote to hon. Members on 31 October last year, acknowledging that ^for some time^ First Great Western services had been ^unsatisfactory^. He said he would

^continue to keep a close interest in performance...to ensure^

that First Great Western lived up to its promises. Passengers have had to endure continued overcrowding, poor services and unreliability, only to be rewarded for their loyalty with an above-inflation price hike. Can the Under-Secretary not do anything to step in and hold back those ticket price rises until quality thresholds are met, and what will he do to put those matters right?

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Tom Harris): The hon. Gentleman is certainly correct, in that the performance of First Great Western has been a concern to me and to the Department for some time. There is little good news, although there is some. The December 2007 timetable has proved to be more robust and more workable than had been predicted. However, he is correct to say that performance is still a major cause of concern. I continue to meet representatives of First Great Western on a regular basis, but I would not try to mislead the House by pretending that it does not give me very serious cause for concern about its future performance.

[Lee]

More related article links.
http://thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133464&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133158&contentPK=19635549&folderPk=78031&pNodeId=133174

http://thisisdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=141507&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232739&home=yes&more_nodeId1=201778&contentPK=19635818

http://thisissomerset.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=147472&command=displayContent&sourceNode=242195&contentPK=19635785&folderPk=113662&pNodeId=251478

http://thisissomerset.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=147472&command=displayContent&sourceNode=242195&contentPK=19630221&folderPk=113662&pNodeId=251478

http://thisisbath.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=180730&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232315&home=yes&more_nodeId1=163047&contentPK=19632851

http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/news_article.php?section=5&category=89&story=5387

The only article that appears to deviate from the general line is the This Is Devon one, which features the following quotes (which I believe I've heard before) :

Transport minister Tom Harris admitted he still had "very serious cause for concern" about the poor performance of FGW^▸ (First Great Western). He told MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) there was "little good news" to report about the beleaguered firm.

St Ives MP Andrew George complained about recent price rises despite travellers enduring overcrowding and unreliability. It seemed the only sanction available to the Government was "to suspend FGW's franchise".

And now I know where 

[Conner]

Andrew George is a brilliant MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context), he's my one. He always stands up for his consituancy.