argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree completely. My constituency is not scheduled to benefit from the electrification project, but it is affected by flooding on the Somerset levels. It is vital that we make sure our railway is future-proofed. A few years back, I took a bus in the constituency of the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) when there was flooding on the railway line across Cowley bridge that looked like something out of the Bible. It is vital that we tackle the range of resilience issues, not just the very famous issue on the coast. I know that Network Rail is looking at the cliffs near Teignmouth. I am sure that my hon. Friend the Member for Newton Abbot (Anne Marie Morris) will talk a bit more about that in her contribution. That aspect needs to be looked at too, not just the sea wall. Much of the signalling throughout Devon and Cornwall was installed in the 1960s. It is listed for consideration in control period 6, which is between 2019 and 2024, and it is vital that that goes ahead because we must improve journey times and ensure a modern infrastructure. The issue of resilience has been brought into focus by the imminent publication of the final report from the Peninsula Rail Task Force, which will set out its 20-year plan for railways in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. Resilience will be at the heart of that, and it is vital to have the funding needed to complete such a commitment. There have been encouraging noises on that issue over the past week or two, and I hope that we might hear a couple more words from the Minister when she responds to the debate. It is clear just how vital it is that we secure that line Electrifying the Great Western route into south Wales is probably the single biggest project on that line since the Severn tunnel, and it will electrify the line in communities along that route—I suspect that colleagues may wish to speak a little more about that. It is pleasing that in the south-west it is no longer the case that the only way to get close to a bit of electrified track is to buy a train set! As a member of the Public Accounts Committee I have sat through a discussion on progress so far—not least the estimated cost of that electrification, which has now reached £2.8 billion—and I imagine that the Minister might not be relishing the thought of committing to more such projects. However, it is right that those issues are highlighted, as investment must not just be about creating a corridor for electric trains to speed through to south Wales; it must be the starting point for an integrated network of electrification across the areas served by Great Western Railway.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Energy
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for his interesting intervention, and I am sure that the Minister will wish to respond to his detailed point. In the Public Accounts Committee discussion, one of the main issues was the signalling that was installed in the 1960s. When the piling was done, the cables were not mapped. Hopefully, as with the re-signalling in Devon and Cornwall, knowing exactly where the signalling cables are might make those lines more suitable for future electrification.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Andrew William Murrison (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. He is talking about electrification in south Wales, but does he agree that it is also important to electrify at least part of the route from Paddington to Penzance? Does he welcome the proposal to bring forward AT300 Hitachi trains, which are bimodal? Given the speeding-up of the service that that would introduce, does he share my concern that we could be tempted to delete some stops along that route? That would be a pity—perhaps he will come on to this point—since it would mean that some of our constituencies would simply become transit corridors. Does he agree that Westbury station, which is a vital north-south-east-west hub, must not be deleted from any forthcoming plans in the new franchise?
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Sarah James (Wollaston) (Conservative, Centre-right): In highlighting the beauty of the line to Exeter, may I encourage the right hon. Gentleman to stay on the train and see how even more beautiful the line gets once it passes along the coast? It is not just about the beauty of the line, which I hope everyone will experience, but the economic importance of the line via Dawlish to the economies of south Devon. Will he join me in saying that whatever we do we must protect the line through Dawlish and protect the economies of south Devon?
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the right hon. Gentleman, who, given the speech he is making today, I will call my right hon. Friend even if that is not strictly correct. Does he agree that the question arises of how long it takes us to deliver infrastructure projects in the UK? We touched on this in relation to western rail access to Heathrow and electrification. We just take too long to make decisions and to deliver on them.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
John Luther Mercer (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the right hon. Gentleman concede that Network Rail committed to paying for the studies? The Government have not given money to a project and then taken it away. The money has fallen through as a result of what Network Rail has done. We have asked the Government to step up and deliver in its place.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): May I add to the right hon. Gentleman’s shopping list? The Minister might like to reassure us about where the south-west and south Wales sit in the Government’s wider priorities. It would appear that we have neither resilience in our network, nor had significant investment in the speeds of our journeys since the ’70s—certainly beyond Bristol, there is no evidence of that coming soon. Other regions, therefore, will zoom ahead with much faster high-speed rail within a decade or two. It would be useful if the right hon. Gentleman added to his list this question about where we stand in the Government’s priorities.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Anne Marie Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): I think that all Conservative Members will be sticking up not just for their own constituents but for the country as a whole. What we want to see is growth and productivity improved. We have to repair the damage done by the previous Labour Government that resulted in our having to make the cuts that we are now making. It is undoubtedly this Government, and the previous coalition Government, who have focused on the need to do something about the whole infrastructure mess I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster), my constituency neighbour, for securing tonight’s debate. It is undoubtedly true that the Great Western route is critical. It is fair to say—here the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) and I might agree —that we need to give some priority to the infrastructure in the south-west. Where we would disagree is that I believe that we have already seen action taken and seen more than just warm words. Frankly, as the Member representing Dawlish among other places, I have seen it in spades. We all want to see this commitment. I believe it is fair, but we need it on the record.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Sheryll Murray (Conservative, Centre-right): The very fact that the trains running between Penzance and Paddington were first introduced in 1976 just goes to show the lack of investment initiated by the Labour Government about which the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) talks. They did nothing for the south-west when they were in government for 12 years.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Neil Quentin Gordon Parish (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend that what was done in Dawlish was absolutely right and that we must keep that railway going. However, we must also consider the line from Bristol to Taunton. We need new stations at Wellington and Cullompton, and we need some metro trains as well. My hon. Friend the Member for Taunton Deane (Rebecca Pow) cannot be here today because of ill health, but I know that she would agree. We need to increase resilience. We need to bring more trains down existing tracks; we need more stations; and we need to use our tracks much more effectively.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I am enjoying the hon. Gentleman’s speech, but does he agree that we must ensure that the rolling stock that we have is correctly specified? Cross-country journeys connect parts of south Devon and, sometimes, south Wales on the route to Birmingham, and some trains have not been not specified to go along a piece of track that a wave might go over.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Byron Davies (Conservative, Centre-right): You are making some important points. Would you accept that the electrification of the line down to Swansea by the Conservative Government is going to result in greatly increased social mobility for the people of the valleys?
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Oliver Newton Colvile (Conservative, Centre-right): Thank, you for calling me in this debate, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I will try very hard to do that. I hope that if I do make a mistake, you might forgive me. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster) on securing this debate. Obviously, he has something more important than I have, because I have tried for five years to get a debate on the future of the railway down to the south-west and have always failed; he obviously has something more alluring and has therefore delivered. Also, let me say that I hope I will not get accused of being a fat controller at the end of my speech. [Hon. Members: "No!"] Last week, we had the unwelcome second anniversary of the Dawlish line being swept into the sea, as my hon. Friend the Member for Newton Abbot (Anne Marie Morris) has pointed out. That was a huge wake-up call to the Government and to all of us in the south-west region. Interestingly, we have all worked together to make one common cause: to make sure that the Government understand the importance of this issue. If there is one thing we have been successful in doing, it is in ensuring that we have spoken with one voice, as have done this evening. We need only look at what happened today, when trains on the line out of Cornwall were once again delayed, because of the appalling weather and the three trees that fell on to the line at Bodmin, to see how fragile our railway line is. As chair of the all-party group on south west rail, I am fighting, alongside my fellow Devon and Cornwall MPs, for better train and other transport links to the region. I have campaigned for that over the past 15 years, initially as a Conservative candidate and more recently as the Member of Parliament for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Neil Quentin Gordon Parish (Conservative, Centre-right): This is very much about the resilience of infrastructure into the west country, because we have not only the Great Western line but the Waterloo to Exeter line, where we could make big improvements by, for example, using loops around Honiton. We could also open Seaton Junction and bring back the trams to meet the service. This is also about carrying on from Exeter down into Cornwall with a second line, because although it is absolutely right to keep the Totnes and Newton Abbot line, we need that second line so that we have resilience. We seem to be having more and more bad weather, so the first line will get blocked and we have to have a second route into Cornwall.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Peter Heaton-Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster) on securing this important debate The hon. Member for Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies) said he might be departing for pastures new. As he kindly namechecked me, may I say what a pleasure it has been to serve under his chairmanship of the Environmental Audit Committee? It has been my first experience of a Select Committee, and it has been extremely fruitful. We will miss you—I mean, we will miss the hon. Gentleman. I apologise. Ooh, I think I’ve got away with it Like many Members on both sides of the House, I am a regular user of the Great Western main line. I travelled up this morning. As others have said, the journey was considerably delayed, but I pay tribute to the GWR train staff, who always kept us well informed and advised. On such days, they operate in extremely difficult conditions. It can only be a challenge to deal with a lot of stroppy passengers who want to know why they are an hour late, but they performed in an exemplary fashion this morning and kept us all advised. Although we got into Paddington an hour late, that was fine As mentioned, faster broadband would be gratefully received. The train is a valuable opportunity to work—I had an unexpected extra hour this morning—but although the broadband works after a fashion, it is, like the curate’s egg, slightly patchy. Like the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw), I choose to travel in the quiet carriage, but never has anything been so misnamed. It is certainly not always quiet. The train is a vital place of work for people on their journey from the south-west to London and elsewhere.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Peter Heaton-Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): I am a shrinking violent and would never presume to do such a thing, but I take the right hon. Gentleman’s point The vital nature of this main rail link for the south-west—our major rail artery—has to be stressed again and again, but it is extraordinarily important for another reason. As others have said, not only is it a fragile link, but it complements what is, by any definition, a fragile series of road links to the south-west. On the M5 or the A303, you pays your money and you takes your choice. There are times when both are unhelpful to the travelling public. For that reason and many others, it is vital that the south-west line is resilient, as many Members on both sides of the House have said.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Alexander John Gervase Chalk (Conservative, Centre-right): As well as resilience, do we not need to get the network running smarter? For example, a great train robbery takes place every day when my constituents are robbed of 15 minutes of their lives because the train from London leaves the main line and parks in Gloucester, where the driver gets out from one end of the train and walks to the other, before the train rejoins the main line and continues to Cheltenham.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Peter Heaton-Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a good point. I am not aware of the particular jiggery-pokery he mentions, but it sounds like an extraordinary bit of choreography I have mentioned the difficulty with transport links as a whole. That is why the resilience of the south-west main line is vital. I also want to talk about the spider’s web, as others have called it. We need to ensure a good and widespread rail service across the south-west. It needs not just a spine, but ribs coming off it—to stretch the analogy to breaking point I am bound also to mention the vital rail link in north Devon connecting Exeter with Barnstaple. Over the years, it has survived the Beeching cuts and many other problems, including flooding and underuse, and now it has turned a corner. The number of passengers using it is growing almost exponentially. It used to be used primarily in the summer months. Indeed, at some points, it is still signposted with signs of the brown tourist variety, which rather gives the impression of its being a quaint Puffing Billy line, which it is not. It is a vital artery, and if we can improve it, we will improve the economic vitality of north Devon The fantastic work of the Tarka Rail Association in promoting and operating the line has helped to drive its increased use, so I was delighted when, just three weeks ago, I arranged for the chairman and me to meet my hon. Friend the rail Minister. We had an extremely productive hour-long meeting at which we discussed the importance of the north Devon main line, as we are hoping to rechristen it. I hope that my hon. Friend will refer to that in her comments. Having these ribs off the spine are absolutely vital if we are to ensure that we have a rail service that is truly of use to the maximum number of people in the south-west. It is of particular importance to north Devon because of tourism.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Iain Aitken Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. I feel like an intruder in this debate, as I do not represent a south-west constituency. However, I was at Exeter university and I regularly visit north Devon. I absolutely concur with his point about the Barnstable line. A key thing that is needed is enhanced rolling stock. Very often what is in use is a single carriage train, which is woefully inadequate. I hope that when the Great Western franchise comes up in a few years’ time, proper consideration will be given to procuring better rolling stock for that line.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Peter Heaton-Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a good point. I am delighted to welcome him to beautiful north Devon. The rolling stock is an essential matter, as it has been left to decay to the point that it is only just fit for purpose. I have held a significant number of meetings with the operators, GWR, Network Rail and the Tarka Rail Association and we have discussed at length the importance of acquiring significant new rolling stock. I am delighted to say that we now appear to have reached a position where there will be a "cascade" of rolling stock. I would rather not use the phrase "cast-off" that was previously used, because I want to strike a more positive note. We will have a cascade of—almost—21st century rolling stock coming towards us for that line.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is making some powerful points, which also relate to my constituency, where we, too, are trying to diversify. Does he agree that that is what makes the debate so important, particularly given the comments by the right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) about the need for western access to Heathrow, which acts as the south-west’s key air link?
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
John Luther Mercer (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. At its heart, this is about developing opportunities and bringing skilled employment to places outside London—to communities that have been deprived for so long Plymothians have adapted to the challenge of modern Britain in a way that only they can—with a positivity and a spirit that make some of us proud to call Plymouth our home. However, we as a Government must now play our part in that revival and tackle the single totemic issue that will fuel this onward journey towards a better, more prosperous and more healthy Plymouth. The biggest, most rewarding and highest-pay-off issue the Government could get right in the next five years is this railway. The jobs, the opportunities for our young people and the skilled manufacturing opportunities will come only if we have a transport link that is resilient, fast and befitting of a 21st century Britain. I say again that this is the totemic issue for this Parliament for us in the south-west At the last election, Plymothians showed their true colours and, for the first time, elected three Conservative Members of Parliament. Plymothians have aspirations, and they want life chances, and we need to do everything we can as a Government to enable them to achieve those and to provide them with the ladder, so that we can bring my city forward and enable it to achieve the potential it so clearly has. The rail link is the single thing that will do that to the greatest effect.
Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Scott Leslie Mann (Conservative, Centre-right): It is a pleasure to follow my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Johnny Mercer). I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster) for bringing this debate about I would like to talk for a few moments about my experience with the Great Western railway and about how beneficial the railway has been. I was not previously a huge user of the railways, having not travelled from north Cornwall to London that much. However, I use them regularly now, because I have to travel up to London and back twice a week. For me, the best part of the week, as the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) mentioned earlier, is getting back on the train at Paddington. I use the sleeper train, and I would urge him to use it as well; there is nothing better than leaving London at midnight and waking up in God’s country, in the south-west, at six o’clock before going back to work on Friday morning. It is an excellent service I represent a constituency that is barren in terms of its railways. North Cornwall has no branch railway links. The south-west saw huge reductions under Beeching’s cuts, and North Cornwall lost stations in Bude, Launceston, Padstow and Bodmin, which served the original Great Western railway. I pay tribute to the Peninsula Rail Task Force, which has worked tirelessly in the south-west to attempt to deliver a plan for the south-west. In recent days, we have seen that plan and presented it to the Chancellor and to the Transport Secretary. I hope that later we will hear some positive announcements regarding the funding for that plan We have also seen in recent days how groups of MPs can join together and work for a region. Today we had the example of the securing of the local government funding settlement and the increase for rural areas, which has been hugely beneficial to residents in Cornwall, and I am grateful for that. We have a rather seamless tide of blue in the south-west, and it would be beneficial for us all to work together to try to get the best we can for our region. The Great Western Railway franchise, or First Great Western as it used to be called, has had a significant presence in Cornwall. In the past, other operators such as Virgin, CrossCountry and Wessex have come and gone, but trains operated by FirstGroup have served the Cornish people for many years. I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for her continued support for the train network in the south-west and for recently agreeing to meet us We noticed how resilient Cornwall and Devon can be when we saw the events in Dawlish in 2014. Those events cannot be ignored. Dawlish is a fantastic place to pass on the train—it is one of the best advertisements for the south-west. For any Members who have not ridden through Dawlish on the train, if you look over to the left-hand side, you can see a huge amount of sea and swell. That is exactly what the south-west is about—it is coastal, it is rugged—