Pugh raises local concerns in Rail Debate
Friday, 20 January 2012
John Pugh took up the cause of Southport constituents forced to endure dreadful train services across the North in a Parliamentary debate on the Northern Hub yesterday. Overcrowding and severe delays have become commonplace as a consequence of years of neglect of rail in the North by successive governments.
The MP read out emails from Southport constituents to the Minister of State for Transport, Theresa Villiers, highlighting many of the problems currently suffered by commuters travelling to and from Southport, including serious and regular overcrowding owing to short formations of trains, and frequent and severe delays owing to old and poor-quality trains breaking down. He called on the Minister to find the money to ensure that the Northern Hub in its entirety was fully funded, with only some elements of the project enjoying government support at present.
Raising the vast gulf in levels of investment in rail between the South and the North, John Pugh remarked that the Government had as of yet failed to commit to the full £560million cost of the Northern Hub, despite having found £6billion for the much-maligned Crossrail project. He said:"I speak with real bitterness because I was sentenced to two years, for crimes unknown, to serve on the hybrid Crossrail Bill. I was surprised at the many substantial objections to the scheme, which, had it been in the North, would certainly have postponed it, if not altogether eliminated it."
John Pugh concluded by demanding that the Minister take urgent action to ensure that the project goes ahead in full. Taking the time later in the day to comment on the debate, he remarked further:
"The Northern Hub is a badly-needed project which will help to end the suffering of many of my constituents forced to endure the terrible quality of current rail services. It is quite frankly an outrage that the present situation has been allowed to get progressively worse whilst the South has seen billions of pounds invested into improving services. A project like the Northern Hub is long overdue, and I hope the government commits to it in full as soon as possible."
Click here to see John Pugh in this debate