I am delighted to be joining the Great Eastern Mainline Taskforce. It is important to work with colleagues up and down the railway line use one collective voice to call for strategic investment in our rail line. The opportunities to improve our line for the benefit of passengers and businesses are considerable.
The extra seats which have been put on the services are a good start and when the new trains do arrive they should make a huge difference to reliability as well as comfort.
However, chunks of commuters have faced many delays to services in recent months. I have asked Greater Anglia to analyse the causes of each the recent delays. They have agreed to meet with me in early September to explain what actions are being taken to try to stop these happening.
The Taskforce, a collaboration of MPs, business leaders and representatives from Network Rail and franchise holder Greater Anglia, welcomed new members from both sides of the House of Commons following the election.
The meeting, which took place in Westminster on Tuesday 4th July, was the last to be jointly chaired by New Anglia LEP Chairman, Mark Pendlington and Norwich North MP, Chloe Smith, who will continue on the Taskforce. The Taskforce is delighted that Colchester MP Will Quince has agreed to become its new Chair. Will was a member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Transport from July 2015 until May this year. He joined the GEML Taskforce in September last year.
In a further change, all MPs in the East who represent passengers in the Greater Anglia franchise area have now been invited to sit on the taskforce and represent their constituents. Vicky Ford MP for Chelmsford and Sandy Martin for Ipswich joined as new members.
The Taskforce has already helped secure a £1.4bn investment as part of Greater Anglia’s new franchise, including 1040 brand new carriages across the entire network – the biggest single investment in new rolling stock in the UK since privatisation. A Taskforce report published in 2014 estimated this investment would bring £4.5bn in economic benefits, creating 48,000 jobs along the line. The focus now turns towards work to achieve further improvements:
• Holding Greater Anglia to account to deliver on the investments and commitments outlined in its new franchise
• Ensuring Network Rail delivers on the required planned investment in Control Period 5 (CP5 – to 2019) and Control period 6 (CP6 – 2019-2024)
• Campaigning for the GEML as an ideal route to trial digital signalling
• Securing funding to deliver critical enhancement projects which impact on achieving Norwich in 90, Ipswich in 60 and Colchester in 30
New Anglia LEP will continue to play a key role in the administration of the Taskforce. Members also heard updates from key partners:
Bombardier’s Aventra train
Greater Anglia: Delivery of the 1030 new Bombardier and Stadler carriages (169 trains) by 2020 remains on schedule. More than 1,000 comments have been received following an online consultation on the design of the new carriages. In May, Greater Anglia increased capacity across its network, providing 100,000 additional seats a week for passengers, including thousands of extra seats on the GEML, after leasing an additional 20 trains.
Network Rail: On 20th July The Department for Transport (DfT) will publish the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) for Network Rail’s Control Period 6 (2019-2024), together with a statement of funds available (SoFA), outlining the strategy and funding to maintain the current railway nationally. Following the publication of the HLOS and SoFA, Network rail will publish a detailed region-by-region strategic business plan in 2018. This will be informed by on-going stakeholder consultation.
DfT will continue to develop processes for the decision making framework for future investments. This will build on the lessons learned from delivery of the current programme, prioritising a smarter, pipeline approach that ensures schemes are developed, designed and delivered in a carefully managed process that lowers delivery risk and gives a greater voice for industry, passenger representatives and local transport bodies.