George spoke during Oral Questions to the Secretary of State for Transport on Thursday, 28th February. He emphasised to the Minister of State for Transport, Simon Burns, that ‘there was much concern in Cornwall about the potential for the number of through services to be reduced, and that there are local ambitions to expand the use of the branch lines.’ He then asked Mr Burns whether he could ‘assure the House that those services will at the very least be protected at the current levels for the next couple of years?
Mr Burns replied that he was ‘delighted to be able to tell him that during the period of the extension we will maintain today’s number of daily through services from London to Cornwall.’
Mr Burns also assured George that the ‘Truro to Falmouth service will remain at today’s levels and will no longer have to be funded by Cornwall county council, but through the high-level output specification intervention. The option for additional services on the St. Ives to Penzance branch from May 2014, subject to rolling stock availability, will be carried forward in this period.’
Ministers are also currently in negotiation with First Great Western to secure the franchise for a further two and a half years, until September 2015. For more on this story, click here.