Minister Stalls on New Trains

3.24.17pm GMT Tue 28th Oct 2008

Answering a question from Vincent Cable MP in Parliament (below) the Railway Minister has confirmed that improvements to create a new platform in Waterloo International will be completed by the end of the year but he would make to commitment to the extra rolling stock needed to reduce overcrowding and improve the frequency of services.

Vincent Cable said: "The Government talks grandly about spending billions on a new CrossRail system but on the South West Trains routes a modest amount of money would quickly produce real improvements in service and reduce overcrowding.

"I am naturally pleased that the Waterloo International improvements are going ahead but, in themselves, they will have only a modest impact until train capacity is increased to match the increase station capacity. A lot of local commuters will not understand why the Government is dithering over a fairly minor investment decision with a big pay off."

Oral Answers to Questions

TRANSPORT

The Secretary of State was asked-

Waterloo International

3. Dr. Vincent Cable (Twickenham) (LD): What progress has been made on the conversion of Waterloo International for the use of London suburban rail services. [228327]

21 Oct 2008 : Column 147

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Paul Clark): Works to convert one platform of Waterloo International for domestic use will be completed by December 2008. The Department continues to work with South West Trains with a view to some existing services operating into and out of platform 20 from next year.

Dr. Cable: I thank the Minister and his predecessor for their support for this project, but the rail operators are saying that they cannot improve services unless they have more rolling stock. Will the Government give priority to that additional investment, under their accelerated programme for railway investment?

Paul Clark: The hon. Gentleman will be aware that there are, in a sense, two stages-a short-term and a medium-term solution-in relation to, in this instance, Waterloo station. In the short term, we need to establish a service by next year through South West Trains. The longer-term solution will involve HLOS-the high-level output specification-and the reconfiguration of all routes into Waterloo, with longer trains to meet capacity requirements. That is part of the £10 billion package in which the Government are investing until 2014.