MP slams latest rail chaos
Brooks Newmark has written to the Rt. Hon. Ruth Kelly MP, the Secretary of State for Transport, calling for urgent improvements to rail services between London and his constituency. Braintree MP Brooks Newmark has written to the Rt. Hon. Ruth Kelly MP, the Secretary of State for Transport, calling for urgent improvements to rail services between London and his constituency, which includes stations at Braintree, Witham, Kelvedon and Hatfield Peverel, in light of last week's serious commuter disruption.
Mr. Newmark wrote: "You will be aware that 2008 began inauspiciously for my constituents after major planned engineering works at London Liverpool Street overran, but services have since descended into chaos."
Brooks said, "last week saw a spate of problems with overhead wires and a derailment and we have already seen a serious accident at the site of the new mainline crossing outside Liverpool Street. While everyone accepts that accidents can happen, the same sort of accidents are cropping up every summer and even planned work is causing huge disruption. The Government has presided over disaster piled on disaster when it comes to the management of our railways."
In his letter to the Secretary of State, which was also copied to both Andrew Chivers of National Express East Anglia and to Ian Coucher of Network Rail, Mr. Newmark also said: "Other accidents like last Wednesday's freight derailment emphasise the potential safety hazards which passengers face and I would be grateful for any confirmation of the Government's plans for long-term investment in improving safety on the rail network in the East of England."
On the issue of downed overhead power lines, responsible for much of last week's difficulties, he wrote "it seems that every summer there are a number of similar incidents with power lines and I hope that it will be possible to redouble efforts to solve this particular problem as a priority."
Brooks also repeated his long-running calls for sustained investment in improving the rail service between Braintree and Witham. He said, "I know from working with rail users' groups that there is incredible frustration at the low level of service to Braintree. The town is continuing to grow very rapidly but the lack of a regular and reliable rail service for commuters and other passengers is still a weak link which the Government must fix.
