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London Underground
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many times he has met staff of the Mayor of London to discuss the performance of London Underground. [142689]
Mr. Hill: I and other Ministers have frequent meetings with the Mayor on a range of matters including London Underground. There have been occasions when the Mayor's staff have also been present at these meetings.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he is taking to improve the traffic flow on the London Underground in peak hours on Mondays to Fridays. [142574]
Mr. Hill: This is an operational matter for London Underground (LUL) but they have provided the following information on their plans to improve customer services, particularly in the peak hours:
- Short-term
- Recruiting 121 extra staff to manage boarding and alighting at key stations more effectively.
- Poster campaign to encourage customers to help avoid delays (e.g. by not holding the train doors).
- Adjustments to timetables to make services run more smoothly.
- Concerted plan to tackle asset reliability and train service management in order to improve train reliability, and hence reduce crowding on trains and platforms.
- Longer-term
- Further increases will be made to peak period train services, beginning with timetable enhancements for the Northern and Central Lines.
Station reconstruction to provide more space (including Camden Town, Tottenham Court Road and King's Cross St. Pancras).
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Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what the longest period is that an escalator has been out of commission on the London Underground in the last five years; [142576]
- (2) what is the average time that an escalator in the London Underground under repair has been out of commission over the last five years. [142578]
Mr. Hill: This is an operational matter for London Underground. The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many escalators are out of commission on the London Underground. [142579]
Mr. Hill: This is an operational matter for London Underground. However, I understand from them that at 9 am on Tuesday 12 December 2000, 31 escalators out of 403 were unavailable for customer service. Of these, 14 were part of planned maintenance or refurbishment programmes.
In most cases where an escalator is out of order there will be a parallel escalator which is in operation to minimise passenger inconvenience and disruption. This generally enables stations to remain open while the works are in progress and at all times safety is the priority.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many dislocations in service have been recorded by London Underground in each of the past five years. [142573]
Mr. Hill: This is an operational matter for London Underground (LUL), but they have provided the following information.
LUL keep a range of records of incidents on the London Underground system. They do not use the term "dislocations in service" as such, but the most appropriate measure to refer to is the record LUL have of train delays of 15 minutes or over.
The table shows the number of these delays since the financial year 1996-97.
| Year | Total |
|---|---|
| 1996-97 | 2,128 |
| 1997-98 | 2,533 |
| 1998-99 | 2,630 |
| 1999-2000 | 2,799 |
| 2000-01(2) | 1,162 |
(2) 1 April-16 September
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how long he estimates that Moorgate underground station will be closed to Northern Line passengers between 8 to 10 am and 4 to 6 pm [142572]
Mr. Hill: This is an operational matter for London Underground who inform me that it is estimated that the escalator works at Moorgate underground station will continue until February 2001. London Underground and Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate deem the current
20 Dec 2000 : Column: 172W
arrangements at Moorgate station to be the most sensible way to avoid dangerous overcrowding while the escalator is being repaired.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how long the up escalator at King's Cross on the Victoria Line was out of order in 1999-2000. [142577]
Mr. Hill: This is an operational matter for London Underground (LUL), but they have provided the following information.
There are two escalators serving the Victoria Line at King's Cross St. Pancras station, nos. 7 and 9. Escalator no. 7 was taken out of service in September 1999 for major refurbishment and returned to service in September 2000. Escalator no. 9 was initially run in the up direction to maintain an up escalator service from the Victoria Line while no. 7 was out of service. However, no. 9 then also had to be taken out of service in February 2000 because of a problem with the drive shaft. From that date, until September 2000 when escalator no.7 returned to service, there was no up escalator from the Victoria Line.
An alternative up escalator service, via the Piccadilly Line escalators was available for most of this time (although these escalators then developed problems early in September 2000).
Both Victoria Line escalators are now in service.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many contractors are available to London Underground when it tenders for the repair and maintenance of escalators. [142575]
Mr. Hill: This is an operational matter for London Underground. However, I understand that London Underground escalator contracts are put to open tender, thus the number of tendering contractors varies each time. London Underground and its subsidiaries presently have maintenance agreements with four contractors (one of whom is internal).
Heathrow
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he expects to receive the final report of the inquiry into the Fifth Terminal at Heathrow Airport. [142701]
Ms Beverley Hughes: We have now received the final report of the inquiry into the Fifth Terminal of Heathrow Airport.
Railways
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what proportion of current delays on (a) London Underground and (b) commuter rail services into London are due to shortages of (i) drivers and (ii) other staff. [142698]
Mr. Hill: These are operational matters for London Underground (LUL) and Railtrack. LUL records the number of trains cancelled in the morning and evening peaks periods due to the driver being unavailable, for whatever reason. For the last quarter (20 August to 11 November 2000) 1.55 per cent. of scheduled peak
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services were cancelled due to no driver being available. It is not possible for LUL to provide figures on delays caused by other staff as the data are not available in this format.
The information on commuter rail services is not available in the form requested. However, in 1999-2000, the main cause of 9 per cent. of train delays was attributed to train crew shortages.
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what recent studies have been undertaken by his Department into the reopening of railway lines; and if he will list the lines in Wales which have been considered for reopening. [142939]
Mr. Hill: DETR has not undertaken any recent studies, but the shadow Strategic Rail Authority has received bids to reopen railway lines under the Rail Passenger Partnership (RPP) scheme. Cardiff Railways are expected to forward a formal bid for RPP funding to reopen the Vale of Glamorgan line. The shadow SRA assesses bids received against the Franchising Director's Planning Criteria, and against value for money in the delivery of the scheme and in comparison with other projects.
Homeless Families
Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many homeless families there were in each year since 1990-91 in England and Wales. [142869]
Mr. Mullin: The number of households accepted by local authorities in England under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 and 1996 Housing Acts as being eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need is as follows:
| Year | Number |
|---|---|
| 1990-91 | 139,290 |
| 1991-92 | 139,630 |
| 1992-93 | 136,230 |
| 1993-94 | 125,360 |
| 1994-95 | 116,850 |
| 1995-96 | 116,550 |
| 1996-97 | 110,810 |
| 1997-98 | 102,650 |
| 1998-99 | 104,150 |
| 1999-2000 | 105,520 |
Note:
DETR PIE Quarterly returns from local authorities.
Source:
Figures since January 1997 include households accepted under both the 1985 and 1996 Acts.
For information about Wales, I refer my hon. Friend to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
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