Railways

My Lords, I do not have any special knowledge of railways but, as the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, indicated, I have a special interest in the Oxford to Worcester line, which of course is currently in a very bad way. I did not expect the White Paper to deal with the subject of flooding, which could be said to be a temporary problem, but I am glad that in answer to a point raised by my noble friend Lord Berkeley the Minister did not use that tiresome word and say that the flooding was ““unprecedented”” and that nothing was therefore to be expected. Indeed, he mentioned specifically the problem that occurs regularly between Didcot and Oxford, with which I am familiar. The Minister gave my noble friend Lord Berkeley an answer to that question but it related only to the matter of shoring up the lines and ensuring that this happens less in future. Surely the long-term reduction in maintenance staff, particularly on the railways, is one of the explanations why First Great Western is telling me on its website today that my part the of the line will not be open for another 10 days at least and that it might be more. If there are inadequate railway staff to deal with a problem that really is not unprecedented and can occur again, will things improve in future? My second of three questions is to re-emphasise what the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, said about car parking. I thought that the Minister did not give a very adequate response on that. Unless I get to my railway station for an early train—““early”” meaning about 8 am—it is unlikely that I will be able to park there and, therefore, be able to take a suitable train. The additional capacity that is so emphasised in the Statement will not be much use if people cannot get to the railway station, park their cars and use the train. I do not think that my final question has been referred to at all today. It concerns a matter on my line, although I think that it occurs elsewhere in the country, too—the matter of single-track lines. These inevitably mean that when there are delays, and I admit that there has been improvement there, there is a double take as a result because trains in both directions are then held up. There are tracks between London, Oxford and Worcester—in two or three places—where this happens. Surely, after all these years, something can be done.