Thursday 26th February 2009

Nicola Blackwood, Parliamentary Candidate Oxford West & Abingdon

Nicola Backs Rail Reforms

Nicola Blackwood, Parliamentary Candidate for Oxford West & Abingdon has received complaints from constituents that the rail service in the constituency is sub-standard. Nicola has raised these concerns with the Shadow Transport team and is able to report the following:

'Under Labour, passengers have been forced to put up with eye-watering fare hikes in return for overcrowding levels that exceed 170 per cent on the worst services. The issues is whether they are getting value for money. Under a Conservative Government, passengers would come first. We would reform Network Rail to focus it on delivering extra capacity and getting costs under control; beef up the rail regulator to create a strong passenger champion; incentivise operators to invest in longer trains and longer platforms to tackle overcrowding; and create a new high speed rail line to help transform the nation's infrastructure.'