Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Ian Cawsey (Labour). It was answered on Thursday, 29 October 2009 on behalf of the Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Grand Committee.

Trans-Pennine Rail Services

Question: Will my right hon. Friend the Minister be able to use her good offices to help to co-ordinate the efforts to get better rail links in the area? For a while now, in my own area, we have been pushing ahead with trying to improve the line from Goole to Leeds and then through to Hull the other way. I know that the Minister is aware of the Capitol Park project on the edge of Goole, which will produce 5,000 jobs and will require greater mobility of labour. Although we have the M62, it would be good to have some train links as well. We have a number of railway stations—not just the main ones such as Leeds and Goole but others down the line, such as Rawcliffe and Snaith. I remember having a photograph taken with my hon. Friend the Member for Selby at Snaith railway station, when we stood in front of a large timetable which had only one service on it and a lot of white space underneath. As the area is growing rapidly as a commuter base, we need to find ways to encourage more rail into it. The difficulty is that when one sits down with all the bodies involved in improving rail services, there are so many that it is like wading through treacle; everybody always agrees that it is a good idea but nobody knows who should take responsibility for it. Perhaps the Minister could help draw those sorts of people together.

Answer: That is obviously a splendid idea. Perhaps my hon. Friend can make some recommendations for the small group of experts that we will be convening. As I said earlier, the rail utilisation scheme cases put forward yesterday showed that it was important to look at the cross-Pennine routes, particularly between Manchester and Leeds, although there is also the bit via Huddersfield. The scheme also looked at the routes between York and Hull, so there is an attempt to acknowledge the need for improved links in the Humber area. My hon. Friend is right to say how important some of the changes in transport infrastructure are. One of the first projects to be brought forward under the fiscal stimulus looked at the A180 in my hon. Friend’s area. Such projects can contribute during the downturn by keeping people in work and looking to future recovery. However, I will certainly look at my hon. Friend’s idea for an expert group to examine these matters.

Secondary information