London's Railway Services

Elly Baker AM moved, and Len Duvall AM seconded the following Motion:

“This Assembly notes the importance of railways to Londoners, especially in outer London who rely on suburban rail services.
 
This Assembly notes that Londoners who rely on these services have been receiving a substandard service, recently leading to overcrowding at stations such as London Bridge. Despite this poor performance, the train operating companies have received £14.5 billion of operational payments from the Government as well as £209 million of performance related payments.
 
This Assembly is disappointed that little progress has been made by the Government in improving the reliability, accessibility and simplicity of the railways, since publication of the Williams-Shapps Report in May 2021.
 
This Assembly reiterates its long-standing call for suburban rail services in London to be devolved to Transport for London as part of the move to Great British Railways and provide a truly integrated, reliable and affordable rail network for Londoners.
 
This Assembly also calls on the Government to publish a timetable for the implementation of the Williams Shapps Plan for Rail and provide a date for when the Whole Industry Strategic Plan, the Rail Freight Strategy and the Accessibility Strategy will be published by the Great British Railways Transition Team.”

Following debate and upon being put to vote, the Motion was agreed with 15 votes in favour and 7 against.