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News Release 31st March 2004MEETING WITH NETWORK RAILMichael Fabricant will be meeting with John Armitt, Chief Executive of Network Rail, and other executives today (31st March 2004) to discuss their £22 billion 10 year business plan to upgrade the rail system and, in particular, the 4 tracking of the West Coast Main line north of Lichfield in Armitage and Handsacre and south in Fisherwick. "The upgrade of signalling and widening of the track from 2 to 4 routes will enable a more frequent direct train service to London and to the north from Lichfield Trent Valley. I welcome this. Lichfield is expanding in size and is attracting the sort of people who hold down senior jobs in London and elsewhere and need a good rail service. The recent changes in the timetable I agreed with the Strategic Rail Authority and its plans for future expansion of services would not be possible without these works." says Michael Fabricant. "But I do recognise that this will cause considerable disruption to residents in Handsacre and Fisherwick and one of the issues I will be taking up with John Armitt is how this can be minimised and to whom constituents can complain if they encounter difficulties. I am keen that there should be a LOCAL complaints hotline - rather than some national service, perhaps outsourced to a call centre in India! This is important as there will be some road closures during the construction period and someone needs to be on the spot with detailed knowledge and contacts to deal swiftly with local queries and complaints." |
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