MPs call for Transport Secretary statement on Thameslink Station 'Fiasco'

Anne Main calls on the Transport Secretary to explain the delays and confusion over the date of the fitting out of the new Thameslink station at St Pancras.

Conservative MPs Alistair Burt (NE Bedfordshire) and Anne Main (St Albans) are today calling for an urgent statement from the Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling about the continuing delay and confusion over the date of the fitting out of the new Thameslink station at St Pancras. Passenger groups and train operators had hoped that the station would be fitted out in time for the proposed opening of the new St Pancras International station in 2007, in order to allow Thameslink passengers to access easily the new facilities. But, following a meeting with junior Transport Minister Derek Twigg MP last week, the MPs say that not only is this unlikely, but there seems to be no sense of urgency to complete the project.

Alistair Burt MP said ' This was a disappointing meeting. The Minister denied that there had ever been a plan to complete the Thameslink station by 2007, which does not square with the expressed disappointment of train companies who might be expected to know something of Government intentions. The minister said he was 'exploring all the options' but could not tell us when these options would be made public or even what date he had set to see the proposals for himself. This lack of urgency is a kick in the teeth to long suffering Thameslink passengers, who will be condemned to serious inconvenience as a result of this mess.'

Anne Main MP said 'The Government appears to have little sense of the extra pressure they are applying to the transport infrastructure through the new housing it is pushing onto the region. Passengers have to put up with seriously overcrowded trains, and the whole Thameslink 2000 project has been so delayed it makes a sad joke out of the title. And in addition it says little for our Olympic preparations if a major rail interchange has such low priority.'

The MPs are calling for an urgent statement from the Transport Secretary to give a public timescale for the completion of the station, and to gets things moving seriously in his department."