Following on from her recent pursuit of Network Rail over the lack of a scheduling strategy for railfreight and passenger services, Anne Main MP has taken her concerns to parliament.

During the debate on the Queen’s speech, Anne lamented, ‘How can we allow permission to be granted on the basis of Network Rail’s blithe assurances that access to the paths can be delivered? It still cannot provide any timetables. It is amazing that we keep being passed from pillar to post.’

The St Albans MP said that the original railfreight ‘application was made in 2006, yet 11 years later, I cannot get any facts or figures that show that that freight site is deliverable in terms of access on to rail.’

The impact on passenger services from railfreight has been one of the most concerning aspects of the proposals for Mrs Main.  Anne welcomed recent improvements to the Thameslink service but regretted that ‘commuters whose lifeblood and family life depend on getting in and out of the city in an effective manner […] still cannot get on a reliable train service.’  

Mrs Main said that Network Rail,

‘[H]as been responsible for 54% of the delays on passenger services, and 42% of the delays on Thameslink. I cannot understand how the opaque Network Rail system, where no one seems to be held accountable for anything, can be so disruptive, so inefficient and so ineffective in getting things to work properly, yet it is still regarded as the expert by successive Governments in terms of rail infrastructure upgrades. Therefore, please can Ministers, at the earliest possible opportunity, look into the Network Rail system? Do not rely on Network Rail’s assurances when other infrastructure projects come along.’

Anne reiterated fears that if the railfreight were to go ahead it could end up being ‘a lorry park in the green belt’ and called for more intense scrutiny of ‘potential upgrades in respect of airport, freight and rail expansion’.