A recent non-answer from very junior transport minister Keir Mather suggests that he has not heard of the “duty of candour” being brought forward by the Hillsborough Bill.
The problem is that Labour has made an absolute shitshow of introducing passenger services to the first phase of East West Rail and doesn’t want to say what the problem is or what its assumptions are.
Tory shadow transport secretary Richard Holden asked the transport secretary:
whether her Department held internal forecast commencement dates for Oxford to Milton Keynes passenger services on (a) 1 January, (b) 1 April, (c) 1 July and (d) 1 October 2026.
To which Mather replied without going anywhere near the question:
East West Rail services between Oxford and Milton Keynes will enter into service once all necessary approvals, operational arrangements and readiness requirements have been met.
He is obviously hiding something from the people his government is there to represent.
Holden’s question was said to be pursuant to Answer of 21 October 2026 to Question 30189, which saw Tory Ashley Fox ask the transport secretary
what is her Department’s latest estimated date for the commencement of passenger services between Oxford and Milton Keynes; and what was the estimated commencement date on (a) 1 January 2026 and (b) 1 July 2026.
Mather replied with a long explanation of the uncertainty, without answering any part of the question:
The Department continues to work closely with Chiltern Railways and other partners to confirm a start date for the first East West Rail services between Oxford and Milton Keynes. Before services between Oxford and Milton Keynes commence, not only have physical alterations to the trains been necessary, but also software and systems changes remain to be completed. Driver training will need to have been completed. Winslow Station also needs to be fully handed over, and future staffing arrangements also remain to be agreed.
Translation: it’s an ongoing shitshow.
The new service was said in June to have been included in the timetable starting next month, although rail industry sources were pointing out that that didn’t mean it would actually happen.
Separately, Rail magazine reports that
Ministers were warned within weeks of the 2024 election that delays to discussions over East West Rail (EWR) train operations could mean no services before 2027.
As I have noted previously, ministers have blamed the delay in awarding the contract to Chiltern for the delays in starting services, although the award of the contract last March clearly didn’t solve all the problems.
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