Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department has paid to date to Bray's detective agency for monitoring road protests. [19226]
Mr. Watts: I have asked the chief executive of the Highways Agency to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Mr. Harry Cohen, dated 17 March 1997:
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent question asking how much has been paid to Bray's Detective Agency for monitoring road protests.
Bray's Detective Agency are employed as evidence gatherers by Treasury Solicitors on behalf of the Department. To date they have been paid £2,263,314.60 (including VAT, where applicable).
Mr. George: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will instruct his staff to inspect the M6 flyover crossing the Darlaston road in Walsall for leakage of rainwater on to the gardens of the houses below or near the structure. [19920]
Mr. Watts: I have asked the chief executive of the Highways Agency to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Mr. Bruce George, dated 17 March 1997:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent question about the leakage of rainwater onto the gardens of the houses below or near the M6 fly-over crossing the Darlaston Road in Walsall.
I am arranging for a representative from our Agent Authority, Staffordshire County Council, to inspect the structure.
Mr. Matthew Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will extend the testing of road construction products in respect of the safety of cars to cover the safety of motorcyclists. [20087]
Mr. Watts: No. Many construction products are already tested for their suitability in terms of safety and other requirements in a general way that covers all classes of vehicle.
In the case of construction products which aim to restrain or redirect errant vehicles, testing is not undertaken specifically in respect of motor cycles as it has not been possible to devise a test that is both appropriate and repeatable because of the instability of motor cycles under such conditions. The development of tests in the UK and Europe has concentrated, therefore, on the performance of such products when impacted by cars and heavier vehicles.
Dr. Marek:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the customer satisfaction surveys carried out on behalf of (a) London Buses Ltd. and (b) London Underground Ltd. [20429]
17 Mar 1997 : Column: 418
Mr. Bowis:
The Department receives regular reports from London Transport concerning customer perceptions of service performance for both Buses and Underground. I understand that London Buses is considering whether to replace its current household survey with an interview survey of passengers alighting from buses. This new methodology would be similar to the one which London Underground has been using since 1990.
Mr. Austin-Walker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what involvement Nomura Securities has in Angel Trains Contracts; and if he will make a statement;[20412]
Mr. Watts:
Nomura International plc, the UK-based wholly owned subsidiary of Nomura Securities Company Ltd., arranged, underwrote and participated in the funding of the consortium called GRS Holding Company Ltd., who contracted to acquire Angel Trains Contracts in November 1995.
Dr. Marek:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish all the reports from the service provision and quality sub-group of the bus working group. [20430]
Mr. Watts:
The work of the service provision and quality sub-group contributes to the on-going discussions of the bus working group. The remit of the sub-group does not include the production of reports for publication.
Mr. Timms:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) of 6 March, Official Report, column 713, if he will provide figures for his Department's PFI projects in the same form as used by the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, in his answer to the hon. Member for Darlington of 6 March, Official Report, columns 692-93. [20385]
Mr. Mackinlay:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on his Department's evidence to the Heathrow terminal 5 inquiry with particular reference to the advantages of the M25 being widened to dual 5-6 between junctions 12 and 15. [20293]
Mr. Watts:
The Department has not provided, and does not intend to provide, evidence to the terminal 5 inquiry on the justification for the proposed widening of the M25 between junctions 12 and 15.
17 Mar 1997 : Column: 419
Mr. Robert Banks:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made towards constructing the Spofforth bypass in North Yorkshire using the private finance initiative. [20680]
Mr. Watts:
I understand that the Spofforth bypass is being progressed as part of a package of three design, build, finance and operate road schemes by North Yorkshire county council.
The public private partnerships programme--4Ps--believes that this package of road schemes have a good chance of being developed successfully and replicated within the new PFI framework, and has therefore given the scheme pathfinder status.
If a satisfactory business case is proposed by North Yorkshire, the Department of Transport will seek Treasury agreement to the notional credit approvals which may be required.
Mr. Robert Banks:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the outturn cost of the upgrading of the A1 between Walshford and Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire to motorway standards; and what was the estimated cost at the commencement of the work. [20683]
Mr. Watts:
I have asked the chief executive of the Highways Agency to write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Mr. Robert Banks, dated 17 March 1997:
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the improvements to passenger and station services implemented by (a) Great Western Trains, (b) South West Trains and (c) LTS Rail, referred to in his answer of 9 January 1996, Official Report, column 27. [18678]
Mr. Watts
[holding answer 4 March 1997]: Improvements to passenger and station services implemented by Great Western Trains, South West Trains and LTS Rail since commencing operations, are as follows:
17 Mar 1997 : Column: 420
17 Mar 1997 : Column: 421
(2) if he will make a statement on the role of Nomura Securities in respect of railway services in the United Kingdom. [20413]
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent question about the costs of upgrading the A1 between Walshford and Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire.
The outturn costs will not be known until the final account for the works has been settled, which may not be for sometime.
The total tender cost for the main works was £54.35m excluding VAT.
Great Western Trains
GWT has introduced a large number of product enhancements including family carriage and business standard services, improved first class facilities, increased capacity for the carriage of bicycles, expanded catering services, and special offers and promotions to all rail passengers.
Weekday train services have been increased and some long-distance journey times have been reduced by up to 20 minutes. By the summer, GWT will be running an additional 11 services per weekday above the summer 1995 timetable.
A £50 million rolling stock upgrading programme is under way and the first five completely refurbished and re-liveried high-speed trains are now in service. A further seven trains will be available by May.
GWT has established a new telephone inquiry bureau and six telesales offices creating 180 full and part-time jobs.
GWT has completed the refurbishment of customer waiting lounges at Swindon, Newton Abbott and Bristol Parkway. Buffet facilities at Swindon have been refurbished and a customer service desk introduced. Self-service ticket machines have been installed at seven main line stations. New customer welcome teams have been introduced at Paddington. Porters have also been re-introduced at Paddington.
Security cover is now provided at all GWT car parks through combinations of trained security guards and closed circuit television.
South West Trains
SWT has introduced two new bus links from Bordon-Liphook and Winchester-Romsey. It has also introduced more bus service information into the SWT's timetable.
More than 2,000 extra sets a day have been introduced to help ease overcrowding. Two additional morning peak services serve Teddington-Waterloo via Kingston and several trains have been lengthened. SWT also has standby trains at London Waterloo and other key locations during the peaks which can be brought into use if needed.
SWT has invested over £1 million in improving train reliability--treating traction motors on class 442s to prevent problems with snow, and solving air conditioning problems on class 159s.
SWT will shortly be placing an order for 30 new four-car electrical multiple units worth approximately £90 million.
SWT has invested £200,000 in new technology and telephone lines at Southampton telephone inquiry bureau, where there are now 25 lines available. In addition SWT is providing extra staff--Bluecoats--at Waterloo, Guildford and Southampton offering help and information to travellers.
SWT has spent or committed the appropriate expenditure on its station refurbishment programme. The first stations to benefit from this work will be Brentford, Norbiton, Twickenham and Surbiton.
Work is now under way to redevelop station buildings at Southampton Airport (Parkway) station. The existing buildings are being transformed in a project which will include new upgraded station facilities and provide an additional 53 car parking spaces to the current 530.
SWT is also carrying out work on car park extensions at Grateley, Eastleigh and Haslemere. Car park resurfacing is also being carried out at 30 SWT stations.
There is a further £130,000 project to install CCTV cameras, improve lighting and cut vegetation at 10 stations. Since the programme of CCTV installation by BR in SWT car parks began in 1993, car crime had dropped by more than 30 per cent.; 70 per cent. of SWT car park capacity is now covered by CCTV.
SWT increased its passengers charter punctuality standards by two points from February 1997.
LTS Rail
LTS Rail has introduced additional late evening trains running from Monday to Friday serving all major stations to Southend.
Passenger safety has been improved by the introduction of security guards on LTS Rail trains and at stations. In total, an extra 3,000 security guard hours per week have been deployed across the franchise.
LTS Rail has launched an experimental low-cost fare called "Early Bird" for early morning Pitsea commuters into London. An Early Bird fare to London from Chafford Hundred will be introduced in April and similar fares are being considered for other stations. LTS has also introduced minicom facilities for the hard of hearing at the Southend telephone inquiry bureau.
LTS Rail introduced its first two class 317 sliding-door trains into regular service on 9 December, operating on the Basildon and Tilbury lines in the morning and evening peaks. Since then, LTS Rail has taken delivery of five further 317s and a further two are due to be delivered on 17 March.
LTS Rail is well advanced with ordering 44 four-car EMUs. The trains will include full air conditioning, wider seats and more spacious interiors, information in every carriage and public phones.
The passengers charter performance target for punctuality will be raised from 88 per cent. to 90 per cent. from 1 April 1997 and a further two points from 1 April 1998. Similarly, the reliability target will be increased by 0.5 points on 1 April 1997 and a further 0.5 points in 1998.
LTS Rail, in partnership with Thamesway, has introduced a joint rail/bus ticketing arrangement. From 2 March, commuters from Benfleet station have been able to buy one ticket valid on Thamesway buses, LTS Rail services and London Underground.
LTS Rail has improved the cleanliness of stations through increased overnight cleaning.
Next Section | Index | Home Page |