Labour attack rail ticket office closures

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Government proposals will lead to the closure of 675 train station ticket offices across the country, the Commons has heard.

Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said under the proposals, 675 stations would see the closure of offices and another 302 stations would see opening hours cut.

Speaking at departmental questions, transport minister Norman Baker dismissed the claims and said office closures currently stood at "so far, none".

Eagle told MPs: "The answer is 675 stations that are planned to lose their ticket office as a result of your plans. Another 302 are going to see their opening hours cut.

"With passengers facing up to a 13 per cent hike in the cost of their tickets from January, do you understand replacing staff with machines will make it even harder for them to get the best deal and is totally out of touch with the public?"

In response, Baker said Eagle seemed to be reinventing her own parties polices and referred to comments from the chief executive of ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies) who accused Labour of 'rank hypocrisy' when it came to its policy on the railways.

He told her: "I think you should examine your own policy."

Baker was responding to a question from Jonathan Reynolds (Lab, Stalybridge and Hyde) on plans for funding local railway stations up to 2015.

He said the local rail network in greater Manchester lacked step-free stations, which often made people travel further down the line.

"Good quality transport should be made available to all," he said.

Norman Baker said the government was continuing with the 'access for all' programme; construction work was expected to begin in June 2012 for the £1.8m project.

Duncan Hames (Lib Dem, Chippenham) referred to the ticket office in Bradford, one of the 675 stations recommended for closure in the McNulty report. He called on the minister to reconsider the plans.

Baker said the government wanted to make sure people had proper access to rail services and tickets.

Louise Ellman (Lab, Liverpool Riverside) called for staff at railway stations to be retained to improve the passenger experience and to secure railway safety.

In response, Baker said that 90 per cent of the rail network was designated as having safe stations. He said the department wanted to ensure people had no concerns about using the rail network.

MOT regulation

Transport secretary Justine Greening has pledged the government is doing what it can to "get rid of necessary red tape" surrounding MOT regulation.

Ian Mearns (Lab, Gateshead) pressed the government on what assessment had been made of the safety implications of changing the frequency of MOT tests for road vehicles

He warned that too many cars failed MOTs and the proposal would simply be dangerous.

In response, Greening said in April 2007 the department considered how vehicle defects affected accident rates, and the potential road safety impact of changing the frequency of the MOT.

She told MPs: "It is important we have a balanced and informed debate about any changes to the MOT approach. Britain goes further in terms of our MOT [regulation] than is required by EU legislation and so that was looked at as part of the red tape challenge."

The transport secretary insisted: "We are doing what we can in the government to get rid of unnecessary red tape and regulation. The MOT question and review came up as a result of that."

Greg Knight (Con, Birdlington) said most of those "bleating" on the issue had a vested interest. He added that 98 per cent of accidents were caused by human error rather than vehicle defects.

Shadow transport minister John Woodcock said motorists had already waited a year for "dithering from the ministers". He warned that such plans would allow too many dangerous vehicles to stay on the road.

The transport secretary told MPs she had met with the AA and RAC Foundation yesterday, and an announcement would be made when she was satisfied with the scope of the review.

Aviation safety

Katy Clark (Lab, North Ayrshire and Arran) asked about the outcome of the meeting of the European Aviation Safety Agency's Advisory Group of National Authorities on October 25 and 26 2011.

She said 43 per cent of pilots said they had fallen asleep in the cockpit and asked if the proposals to increase the time pilots work is a risk to public safety.

In response, Greening said the Civil Aviation Authority hadn’t received any representations on this. She added that the government had voiced its concerns about the new working time proposals to the EU.

Dartford Crossing

John Baron (Con, Basildon and Billericay) asked the government if it would consider a policy not to increase the Dartford Crossing charges, and to introduce automatic number plate recognition technology to reduce congestion at the crossing.

Responding for the government, transport minister Mike Penning said at the time of the spending review, increasing charges for Dartford Crossing was set out for a package of improvements. He said the government did not intend to change its policy.

Baron said the department had got this wrong; he said the crossing made £30-40m profit annually and it would be better to introduce automatic number plate recognition. He said that with the new secretary of state, there should be fresh thinking on this.

Penning said that even with free-flow tolling there would still be congestion. He said an additional crossing needed to be considered.

Michael Fallon (Con, Sevenoaks) said there was a persistently serious problem at the tunnel of peak hour congestion, North and South bound. And he called for earlier and clearer signage at the point of the toll boots themselves.

Penning said the barriers used were an archaic form of tolls. He added that there was a lot of construction work that needed to be done and that the M25 was such a success that there needed to be another crossing on the Thames.

Winter resilience on the roads and railways

Rehman Chishti (Con, Gillingham and Rainham) asked what steps were being taken by the department in respect of winter resilience on the roads and railways.

The transport secretary said significant efforts had been made to boost resilience for winter weather and the department was working with all key operators, including salt suppliers in the event of severe weather.

She said the rail network was better prepared this year than previously; action had been taken in terms of investment in rail and carriages. She said there had been improved investment to clear snow and better management to communicate with passengers on snow information.

Rural bus services

Angela Smith (Lab, Penistone and Stocksbridge) asked what progress had been made on improving access to bus services in rural areas.

Baker said this was predominantly a matter for private bus companies or local authorities.

In response, Smith said there was a “beaching of rural bus services” taking place and accused the government of “passing the buck”.

Baker insisted there had been no cuts from central government for these services.

Train punctuality

Andrew Stephenson (Con, Pendle) asked what steps were being taken to improve the punctuality of trains.

Transport minister Norman Baker said: "The Office of Rail Regulation and I have made it clear to Network Rail and train operating companies that current trends in performance are causing concern and we expect industry-wide performance back on target as soon as possible."

Stephenson said that recent a letter from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) to Network Rail raised "serious concerns" over the length of delays on the railways at the moment.

Baker said it was a "particularly worrying trend". He added that the length of delays is increasing and it is a matter he has discussed with Network Rail and the train companies.

He told MPs: "It's difficult to get to the bottom of this. There appears to be not one simple explanation but there are a number of steps which need to be taken by Network Rail and the train companies to deal with this."

Scrap Metal

Joan Ruddock (Lab, Lewisham Deptford) said commuters on her local network suffered 13,837 minutes of delays and 232 cancellations as a result of cable thefts. She asked how this would be solved.

In response, Baker said there was a cross-departmental group of ministers which had met twice to look at what could be done with existing powers and what further steps might be necessary in regulation and legislation to deal with a very serious problem that was having a big impact on the economy and on passengers.