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Rail Services (Northampton)

The Petition of residents of Northampton and people who use the local rail services, Declares that there is serious concern about the proposal in the draft 2008 timetable to end the 7.12 fast train to London which is the main train service used by commuters who work in London. The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Secretary of State for Transport to reinstate the fast train service from Northampton to London at 7.12 am. And the Petitioners remain, etc. —[Presented by Ms Sally Keeble , Official Report, 19 November 2007; Vol. 467, c. 1071 .] [P000062] Observation from the Secretary of State for Transport: Virgin West Coast (VWC) currently provides a Pendolino for the 0712 Northampton to London Euston service because the resource can be provided ahead of other commitments during the day. The service was provided as a temporary measure because the trains were available and the new Desiro trains ordered specifically for the Northampton line had yet to be delivered. This temporary operation was communicated clearly to stakeholders when the service was introduced in September 2004. Virgin have continued to run the train after the Desiros were introduced because there has not been the option to use the train to relieve crowding and accommodate above forecast traffic growth on the main longer distance route. This is because of the capacity limits on the West Coast Main Line while key infrastructure, such as Rugby station and junctions, are rebuilt. From December 2008, when the infrastructure upgrade is complete, all Pendolinos will be needed to be in intensive main line use before 0800 to operate the more frequent long distance services between London, the West Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool, the North West and Scotland. These are the services for which the line is being upgraded and the trains were ordered. Despite this requirement, it has proved practicable to retain one morning Pendolino service between Northampton and Euston, at 0642. Northampton was not planned to receive any Pendolinos or other upgraded links as part of the ill-fated Railtrack upgrade. Government, through SRA and DfT intervention, has secured not only the replacement and increase in fleet size of all of the Northampton to London trains, but it has also delivered higher speed running on the slow lines, 12-car platforms to accommodate traffic growth and a step change improvement in the dependability of the service. Under the terms of the franchise agreement, London Midland is committed to the provision of three ‘limited stop’( )services from Northampton to arrive at Euston between 0800 and 0900, and to provide 12-car trains for each. These trains are timed to leave Northampton at 07:01, 07:15 and 07:38, taking 64, 61 and 61 minutes respectively, for the 66 miles. The only intermediate calls will be at Wolverton, Milton Keynes and Leighton Buzzard. A 12-car Desiro provides 72 first-class and 639 standard class seats, compared with a 147 first-class and 300 standard-class seats on a Pendolino and much more suitable for peak commuting. The DfT published an Invitation to Tender in 2007 for the provision of new fleet of 125mph Inter City trains. It included an option for a London -Northampton-Manchester service. A final appraisal of the business case for the deployment of these new trains will take place in 2008.