Transport
secretary


Louise
Haign
has
sounded
a
warning
to
the
railway
industry,
saying
that
performance
‘improvements
that
can
be
made
now
must
be
made
now’,
and
that
the
level
of
performance
must
be
communicated
to
passengers
more
effectively
by
using
station
screens.

She
told
MPs
that
performance
is
starting
to
improve,
hailing
‘green
shoots’
on
LNER,
where
the
number
of
cancellations
has
been
falling.

She
also
highlighted
the
new
‘five-point
plan’
for
overcrowded
London
Euston,
where
more
trains
are
being
advertised
twenty
minutes
before
departure,
reducing
the
need
for
the
‘Euston
dash’
down
the
ramps
from
the
concourse
to
the
platforms.

She
continued:
‘Platform
announcements
are
made
earlier,
crowding
has
been
reduced
and,
yes,
the
advertising
screen
has
been
temporarily
switched
off.’

She
promised
‘tangible
improvements’
on
Northern:
‘Thanks
to
our
agreement
on
rest
day
working,
hundreds
more
driver
shifts
have
been
covered
this
weekend,
cutting
cancellations
now
and
in
the
long
run.
At
TransPennine
Express,
operator-caused,
on-the-day
cancellations
averaged
around
2
per
cent
in
the
last
year,
compared
to
5
per
cent
in
the
year
before
it
was
taken
into
public
ownership.
On
CrossCountry,
we
took
immediate
steps
to
implement
a
remedial
plan
to
reduce
its
cancellations
and
get
services
back
on
track.
Its
reduced
timetable
has
brought
greater
stability,
and
I
expect
even
greater
reliability
in
the
long
term
as
the
full
timetable
returns
today.

‘We
will
be
fully
transparent
with
passengers
by
displaying
performance
data
at
stations
to
demonstrate
how
the
railway
is
working
and
to
allow
the
public
to
hold
us
to
account
as
we
deliver
change.
That
is
important,
because
the
railway
is
a
promise—a
promise
to
passengers
from
the
moment
they
buy
a
ticket
that
the
train
will
arrive
on
time,
as
the
timetable
says.’

Shadow
transport
secretary
Gareth
Bacon
responded:
‘I
agree
that
rail
performance
is
a
key
concern
to
passengers
throughout
the
country,
and
it
is
a
fair
criticism
to
say
that
several
operators
have
consistently
underperformed.
That
is
why,
when
we
were
in
government,
we
took
action
to
improve
performance
on
our
railways,
investing
more
than
£100
billion.

‘We
know
that
while
in
some
cases
it
has
been
necessary
in
the
short
term
to
bring
rail
operators
into
public
control,
it
has
not
made
the
difference
in
performance
that
the
Government
would
have
us
believe.
It
takes
only
a
cursory
glance
at
passenger
rail
performance
statistics
to
see
that
some
of
the
rail
operators
operating
under
public
control
have
done
little
or
nothing
to
improve
cancellations
or
delays
in
relation
to
other
operators.’