Grand Central Trains

EDM number 219 in 2010-12, proposed by Linda Riordan on 14/06/2010.
Categorised under the topic of Railways.

That this House congratulates the train operator Grand Central on the excellent start it has made to its new direct train service from Bradford to London; praises Grand Central for its initiative in spotting a gap in the rail market and having the vision, dedication and patience to see its plans come to fruition; welcomes the fact that these new London services are serving towns like Halifax and Brighouse which haven't had a direct train service to London for decades; further welcomes the fact that the trains are proving to be very popular with the general public and the business community; praises Grand Central staff for their helpful and courteous manner; further praises everyone who helped campaign for these services, particularly the local newspaper the Halifax Evening Courier; recognises that allowing rail operators like Grand Central to link towns like Halifax with London provides new jobs and investment opportunities in the North; urges the Department for Transport to encourage more open access rail operators to introduce new services linking London with towns and cities not currently served by trains to London; further asks the Department to engage more widely with open access operators to see whether there are things the operators could do that would save the Department money on franchised services; and looks forward to Grand Central increasing the number of services in each direction from three to four, giving people in places like Halifax even more opportunity to get to London for business or leisure.

This motion has been signed by a total of 19 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.