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Dorneywood
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list those people who have been entertained at public expense at Dorneywood since May 1997. [143268]
Ms Beverley Hughes: When the Deputy Prime Minister has used Dorneywood for meetings on Government business, the costs involved have been paid by the Department. Since May 1997, Dorneywood has been has been used for meetings with a range of Ministers and officials on a number of occasions.
Tyre Landfilling
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what representations he has received from environmental organisations regarding the decision to extend the deadline for the cessation of the landfilling of tyres beyond 2003. [143143]
Mr. Mullin: We have not received any representations from environmental organisations. The Government have made no decisions on deadlines as these are already set out in the Landfill Directive. For landfill sites opened after 16 July 2001 the requirement is that they must cease accepting whole used tyres from 16 July 2003 and
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shredded tyres from 16 July 2006. For existing landfill sites the requirement is that they cease to accept whole used tyres and shredded tyres "as soon as possible" in accordance with their conditioning plan agreed by the Environment Agency and, in all cases, from 16 July 2009.
Railtrack
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of Railtrack's compliance with condition no. 7 of its operations licence in relation to the number of broken rails in each year since 1994. [143556]
Mr. Hill: The Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR) is responsible for ensuring that Railtrack meets its network licence obligations. The Regulator has informed Railtrack that he regarded the excessive level of broken rails in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 as prima facie evidence of a breach of licence condition 7; and that the ORR and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) were commissioning an independent report from Transportation Technology Centre Inc. (TTCI). The TTCI report was published on 9 November.
I understand that the ORR and HSE have asked Railtrack to respond to the TTCI report and for a statement of how it proposes to take the necessary action.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will discuss with Railtrack the implementation of arrangements whereby future maintenance contracts for maintenance contractors will exclude the right of Railtrack to override recommendations for maintenance and renewal made by maintenance and repair contractors and include the right of maintenance contractors to vary repair and maintenance contracts with the approval of regulatory bodies. [143550]
Mr. Hill: Railtrack has prime responsibility for the safety and security of the railway it controls and for the health and safety of those who are affected by its activities.
Railtrack's contracts for infrastructure maintenance require contractors to be compliant with specified standards designed to ensure safe and secure operation. The maintenance contractors are also obliged by the contracts to recommend renewals and other specified repair works to Railtrack.
In order to continue to discharge its statutory safety obligations under the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974, Railtrack must accept responsibility for all decisions that relate to infrastructure maintenance, repair and renewal works.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions on how many occasions Railtrack has been served with enforcement orders relating to its operations since 1994. [143554]
Mr. Hill: The Health and Safety Executive's (HSEs) Railway Inspectorate has served Railtrack with 79 enforcement notices since 1994.
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| Improvement notice | Prohibition notice | |
|---|---|---|
| 1994-95 | 7 | 0 |
| 1995-96 | 12 | 1 |
| 1996-97 | 9 | 0 |
| 1997-98 | 6 | 1 |
| 1998-99 | 8 | 0 |
| 1999-2000 | 15 | 3 |
| 2000-01 | 17 | 0 |
Imported Railway Lines
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will secure from Railtrack an assurance that all strings of railway lines imported and used on the national rail network comply with Railtrack specifications; [143548]
- (2) if bulging in railway line products supplied to Railtrack from Italy has implications for Railtrack's renewal programme. [143547]
Mr. Hill: Railtrack advise that the recent problems encountered with some rails from Italy are still undergoing evaluation. There is now an embargo on importing Italian rail until a full assessment is made of their quality assurance process. Railtrack have an additional quality approved supplier in Sweden and they will step into any breach caused by the Italian embargo.
Bulging deficiencies in rail from any source may impact on work programmes. This is one of the reasons why Railtrack maintain supply contracts with several different rail manufacturers. Railtrack experience problems from time to time with any source of rail and need to be able to maintain their supplies.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if levels of asymmetry tolerance in relation to railway lines imported from Italy in 2000 have implications for the safety of the national rail network; [143561]
- (2) if levels of asymmetry tolerance in relation to railway lines imported from Corus operations in France have implications for the safety of the national rail network. [143562]
Mr. Hill: All measurement tolerances are uniform for the acquisition of all track products including rail and are designed to avoid safety implications.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if problems with the welding of railway lines imported from Italy in 2000 have implications for renewal of the national rail network. [143564]
Mr. Hill: There were no problems in being able to weld Italian rail. All rail is welded for Railtrack by Corus at two UK plants. There are ample supplies of rail for welding.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will secure from Railtrack an assurance that all rail track products used on the national railway network are as individual pieces of equipment traceable as to (a) country of manufacture and (b) name of manufacturer. [143551]
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Mr. Hill: Railtrack advise that all rail is stamped with the manufacturers' unique identifier, the year and month of manufacture, the appropriate profile and grade of rail and the string number. Railtrack are able to identify which batch any single string came from and would always investigate the rest of any batch where a single fault has been found.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will request Railtrack to provide details as to the nature of the contractual arrangements for the import of railway lines from Italy. [143549]
Mr. Hill: This is a commercial matter between Railtrack and its suppliers.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if the return of railway lines imported from Italy in 2000 was related to the need to maintain safety standards on the national rail network. [143563]
Mr. Hill: No rail has been returned to Italy. Railtrack have simply put an embargo on importing any more until such time as they are satisfied that the Italian company's quality control can reliably meet specification.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the implications are for safety arising out of comparative evaluations as to macrosegregation in the context of quality between railway lines produced by Voest Alpine of Austria, Luccini's of Italy, Corus operations in France and Corus operations in Workington. [143441]
Mr. Hill: The origin and quality of railway lines is a matter for Railtrack.
Train Derailments
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list all train derailments since 1994. [143555]
Mr. Hill: The Health and Safety Executive's (HSEs) Railway Inspectorate is able to provide a list of train derailments only for the two year period 1998-99 and 1999-2000, which is shown in the table. This shows derailments on all railways, which includes the Railtrack network, Metropolitan railways, London Underground, Heritage railways and Tramways.
For earlier years the numbers of derailments are included in the Railway Inspectorate's annual reports. Copies are in the House Library.
(19) Information supplied by HSE's Railway Inspectorate
Note:
The list of train derailments is based on all derailments in Great Britain, as well as those on that have occurred on the Railtrack Controlled Infrastructure, the list includes those that have occurred on Heritage Railways, Tramways and Metropolitan Railways such as London Underground.
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