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Railways

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Strategic Rail Authority and (b) Railtrack regarding the Virgin cross country upgrade, as outlined in the 2001 Network Management Statement Part 1, Chapter 9, page 13. [20091]

Mr. Jamieson: None.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the importance of the railways to an integrated transport strategy, with particular reference to integration at a regional level. [21745]

Mr. Jamieson: Improving the quality of our rail system and increasing its use, by both passengers and freight, is an integral part of our 10 Year Plan for Transport. The Plan aims to deliver improvements across all modes of transport, at national, regional and local levels.

Achieving our target of increasing rail passenger patronage by 50 per cent. by 2010, and rail freight by up to 80 per cent., would help to relieve the growing pressure on our roads, and contribute to the reductions in congestion and pollution that the Plan envisages.

At the regional level, the Government's guidance on Regional Transport Strategies emphasises the importance of integration in supporting more sustainable travel choices. The programme of multi-modal studies currently under way, covering most of our main transport corridors and bottlenecks, is also taking an integrated approach and examining a full range of possible solutions in each case. The programme for replacement and extension of existing rail franchises invites bidders to offer proposals for local and regional integration, and the draft Directions and Guidance to the Strategic Rail Authority reinforce this aim. The Rail Passenger Partnership scheme also exists to provide financial support for local and regional initiatives to improve integration of rail with other modes.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the importance of diversionary routes for the rail network. [21736]

Mr. Jamieson: Diversionary routes are clearly important in providing alternatives where disruption occurs. Franchise agreements require train operating companies to use all reasonable endeavours to provide alternative transport where services cannot run as advertised, for which diversionary routes are one possible solution.

Back Lanes

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions for what reason unnamed back lanes are excluded from

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highways data for the purposes of calculating standard spending assessments; and when this exclusion was introduced. [20103]

Dr. Whitehead: Back lanes, unnamed or otherwise, should have always been excluded from the data used in SSAs. The same is true of other public ways such as Byways Open to All Traffic, bridleways, footpaths, green lanes and unsurfaced roads. This is on the basis that this group of rights of way take very little or no traffic relative to major and minor roads.

Some authorities have, in the past, erroneously, included some of these rights of way in their highway returns to the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions.

London Underground

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what performance indicators on the London Underground are routinely monitored by his Department. [20114]

Mr. Jamieson: The Department routinely monitors progress towards achievement of the Government's performance and investment targets for 2001–02 that I announced to the House on 19 July 2001, Official Report, column 367W.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many signal failures there have been on the District line since 1 January between Earls Court and Wimbledon. [20117]

Mr. Jamieson: This is an operational matter for London Underground who inform me that there were 117 signal failures causing delays to services on the District line between Earl's Court and Wimbledon between the 1 January and the 10 November this year.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions whether London Underground holds an up-to-date register of its assets. [20122]

Mr. Jamieson: I understand that London Underground holds a register of its assets, in which assets are categorised according to their condition. Under the tube modernisation plans the infrastructure companies will be required to bring all assets up to a satisfactory condition.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many mechanical failures there have been on District line trains since 1 January. [20125]

Mr. Jamieson: This is an operational matter for London Underground who inform me that between 1 January and 10 November there were 31 train delays of over 15 minutes and 103 peak time cancellations of District line trains because of train defects.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much investment has been made in the London Underground, excluding Jubilee Line construction, in each year since 1995. [20116]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the then Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Streatham (Keith Hill) to the hon.

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Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) on 8 May 2001, Official Report, column 23W. The actual level of investment in 2000–01 was set out in London Transport's annual report 2000–01, published in July of this year.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when a detailed survey was last carried out (1) of London Underground's tunnels; and if he will make a statement; [20770]

(2) into the condition of London Underground's signalling; and if he will make a statement. [20769]

Mr. Jamieson: This is an operational matter for London Underground. In many areas London Underground infrastructure is old and of varied condition. Frequently, assets are in need of replacement or renewal. London Underground inform me that they carry out a regular and ongoing programme of inspections and surveys of tunnels, signals, and track. All tunnels are thoroughly inspected several times each week to identify any track defects.

Should any assets be found to be in a condition which has a possible safety implication, then remedial action is taken immediately or if that is not possible, mitigating measures are taken to ensure safe operation, for example, the imposition of a speed restriction. Where necessary, more extensive and/or frequent surveys are undertaken to ensure that no further deterioration takes place before a long-term solution can be implemented. Under London Underground's tube modernisation plans, bidders will have the resources to implement these long-term solutions more quickly than London Underground itself can at present.

Mr. Page: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) what measures he proposes to tackle graffiti on the London Underground; and what account is taken of graffiti in the formulae relevant to the calculation of environmental ambience; [20963]

(2) what minimum measurements apply to (a) litter and (b) graffiti for qualification for inclusion in the periodic surveys of the ambience of London Underground stations and trains conducted by mystery shoppers. [20964]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 6 December 2001, Official Report, columns 442–43W.

Railway Stations (Electronic Ticket Barriers)

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent crowd safety assessments have taken place at the London railway stations that have had electronic ticket barriers installed (a) before and (b) since the barriers were installed; and if he will make a statement. [20624]

Mr. Jamieson: I understand that prior to barriers being installed, a full risk assessment must be submitted to the HSE and the station operator who is installing the gates must carry out an operational safety assessment. Operation of the gates is assessed as part of the operational safety cases during field inspection. The gates must operate in such a way that they will be powered down, ie set to open, if unattended. There are now many

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gates in operation and I understand that there have been no significant safety concerns as a consequence of their use.

M58

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what has been the total public investment in the M58 motorway since 1985; and how much of that investment was subject to European Union subsidy. [20651]

Mr. Jamieson: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, Tim Matthews, to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Tim Matthews to Mr. Peter Duncan, dated 10 December 2001:

The Transport Minister, David Jamieson, has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the total public investment in the M58 motorway since 1985.
I am afraid that our records are not kept in a form which allows us to provide this information.
The total spend includes monies for routine and winter maintenance which we pay to our agents in bulk: the sums are not disaggregated to individual roads. I can say however that between 1992 and 1995 we spend £10.5M on major maintenance schemes on this section of motorway.
This investment was funded by the Agency and its predecessor through the national roads vote. We can find no record of an EU grant having been received towards the cost of these works.
I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful but if you would like any further information about this matter, the Agency's Route Manager for the M58, Roy Wood, would be pleased to help you. His telephone number is 0161 930 5686.

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