Train Services: Extreme Weather
It is good to see you in the Chair, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) on securing this debate. It is one that I have tried to secure on a number of occasions, because the west of England line runs through my constituency, passing through the towns of Axminster, Honiton and Feniton. I was struck a moment ago by my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) describing how extreme weather has become, simply, weather. That was very well put. In this debate, we could talk about not extreme weather but the impact of climate change on our transport infrastructure. It is good to see the Minister for Local Transport in his place, because he has been fantastic at securing new railway stations for mid-Devon and Somerset at Cullompton and Wellington, respectively. He does an excellent job in his role, and that is why I am pleased to have the opportunity to talk about Liberal Democrat policy as well as the west of England line. The line connects Exeter with London Waterloo and goes via Salisbury. Much of that line, certainly west of Salisbury, is single track. When there is a disruption or delay, that means that the whole timetable gets thrown. Understandably, a lot of residents in east Devon have contacted me about that in the dry hot summers that we have had in the last two years. South Western Railway describes the main consequences of that dry weather as “soil moisture deficit”, which is a euphemism for embankments that are dry. That is largely due to the route sitting on clay. When prolonged heat and drought remove moisture from the soil, the clay shrinks, the embankments move and the track moves, too. In those conditions, it would be dangerous to carry on as normal. Speed restrictions have to be imposed. We saw the consequences of extreme weather on a railway line that does not have any disruption to the schedule in Lewes earlier this year, when a Southern train derailed. The problem in that case was “track geometry irregularity”, which I think is a euphemism for rails that have bent. In seriousness, I accept that safety has to come first. But we have to acknowledge that while safety is a priority, it is having severe consequences on the people we represent. I want to consider young people who are trying to build their futures. One person from Awliscombe wrote to me to say that his 17-year-old daughter could no longer get to her apprenticeship for 8 o’clock in the morning, because the only train reaching Exeter at that time had been cancelled. Without any replacement bus service, he and his wife are having to make a 40-mile round trip by car to get their daughter to work. That is not an isolated incident: roughly 550 college students travel on the west of England line to Exeter college. A father from Offwell told me that his daughter, who has just started, is subjected to train cancellations and delays, and often spends two to three hours every day waiting for a train home from Exeter. A mother from Honiton explained how, since both the 7.30 am train and 7.45 am bus have been cancelled, there is no way for students to arrive on time for their 9.45 lectures. Students are relying on the service to access their further education, but it is also affecting working people. Shelby Gittens is a dental hygienist from All Saints near Axminster. She has been prevented from reaching Exeter reliably before the start of her working day. Due to the delays, her office has had to reschedule her 9 o’clock patients indefinitely until the matter is resolved. Given that Devon is one of the UK’s foremost dental deserts, that is quite a serious consequence for people trying to get dental work in Devon.