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Strategic Rail Authority
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions for what reason the SRA plan makes no reference to automatic train protection in its list of priorities. [28543]
Mr. Spellar: Automatic train protection (ATP) is not mentioned in the SRA's Plan because it is being superseded by a combination of Train Protection Warning System (TPWS) and European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS). TPWS is designed to reduce the risks from Signals Passed at Danger by slower-running trains, and is being installed at about 11,000 signals with legislation requiring completion by the end of 2003. The Uff-Cullen inquiry recommended that such a system as ERTMS should be installed throughout the high-speed network by 2010. The omission of ATP from the plan does not involve any compromise of safety standards.
Rail Network
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the time scale required to establish special purpose vehicles for infrastructure investment in the railways. [28544]
Mr. Spellar: Section 4 of the SRA Strategic Plan discusses the issues involved in developing and implementing special purpose vehicles. As the plan notes, this will be progressed simultaneously with the process of bringing Railtrack out of administration.
Railtrack
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what progress the Railtrack administrator has made on the development of an asset register. [28540]
Mr. Spellar: This is a matter for the administrator
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what bonus scheme the Railtrack administrator has implemented to replace employee share schemes. [28530]
Mr. Spellar: This a contractual matter between Railtrack plc, its employees and the administrator.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling), of 14 January 2002, Official Report, column 11W, on Railtrack, what information his officials have sent to the Railtrack administration about the future funding of the railway industry. [29181]
Mr. Byers [holding answer 21 January 2002]: The administrators have been referred to the Government's 10-year plan for transport and to the regulatory settlement for control period 2, as supplemented by the agreement between Railtrack and the Department in April 2001.
Public Subsidies (Railways)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the average public subsidy per rail passenger journey has been in each of the past 10 years. [28570]
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Mr. Spellar: The information is not held in the form requested.
Lorry Movements
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many lorry movements occur in the United Kingdom each year. [28559]
Mr. Spellar: Lorries made an estimated 292 million movements in the United Kingdom during 2000, the latest year for which figures are available. The figures relate to the number of journey legs, between stops to pick up or unload goods, including unladen legs, but with each journey of a collection and delivery type round counted as a single movement.
Railways
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the (a) time taken on the renewal of the Chiltern and South West Trains franchise process and (b) the Strategic Rail Authority estimate for the establishment of a final agreement for the Wales and Border franchise. [28560]
Mr. Spellar: The Strategic Rail Authority is continuing to negotiate final agreements for the Chiltern and South West Trains franchises. A further announcement will be made shortly. The authority hopes to announce a preferred bidder for the Wales and Borders franchise by autumn 2002, and to have a new franchise in place by spring 2003.
Passenger Capacity Limits
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the train operating companies which are required to carry out passenger counts on commuters to meet the passengers in excess of capacity limits set by the SRA. [28661]
Mr. Spellar: The Passengers In Excess of Capacity (PIXC) mechanism is used in relation to overcrowding on all commuter services into London and on some commuter routes into Edinburgh. The train operating companies it applies to are c2c, Chiltern, Connex South Eastern, First Great Eastern, Silverlink, South Central, South West trains, Thames Trains, Thameslink, West Anglia Great Northern and Scotrail.
Central Line
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to extend the Central line to Uxbridge. [28479]
Mr. Spellar: None. It is already served by the Piccadilly and Metropolitan Lines.
Council Tax
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many properties there were in each council tax band in each year since 1997, broken down by London borough. [28534]
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Dr. Whitehead: Tables, showing how many properties there were on the valuation list for each London borough, in each year since October 1997, have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Speed Limits
Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many 20 mph zones are in place in England; and how many he estimates will be in place by the end of the 2002–03 financial year. [28394]
Mr. Spellar: This information is not held centrally.
London Underground
Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will publish the age of the oldest and newest rolling stock on each London Underground line; and if he will make a statement. [28311]
Mr. Spellar: For information about Jubilee and Northern Line rolling stock, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Mr. Jamieson) to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) on 19 December 2001, Official Report, columns 497–98W.
This is an operational matter for London Underground who have provided the information in the table, showing, for the remaining lines, the year in which the oldest and newest rolling stock came into service.
| Line | Oldest stock year entered service | Newest stock year entered service |
|---|---|---|
| Barkerloo | 1973 | 1975 |
| Central and Waterloo and City | 1993 | 1994 |
| Circle and Hammersmith and City | 1969 | 1977 |
| District | 1978 | 1982 |
| Metropolitan and East London Line | 1961 | 1965 |
| Piccadilly | 1975 | 1978 |
| Victoria | 1967 | 1970 |
Commuter Travel
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) how many extra commuters a day he estimates will travel to London from each county in the south-east of England as a result of the meeting of his house building targets; [28731]
- (2) what estimate he has made of the number of extra (a) rail passenger journeys per day into each London terminus and (b) road journeys on each motorway into London as a result of meeting his house building targets. [28730]
Ms Keeble: Statistics on travel patterns are available from a variety of both local and national sources, including the National Labour Force Survey and the National Travel Survey. However, the relationship between the house building targets set out in Regional Planning Guidance for the South East (RPG9) and the
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volume of commuter travel into London is a complex one. It would therefore not be sensible to estimate how many extra commuters will travel to London from counties in the south-east as a result of those targets being met.
Green Belt
Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if the amount of green belt in a local authority area will continue to affect the level of settlement it receives after the 2003 review. [28391]
Dr. Whitehead: Under the current formula the amount of green belt has no direct effect on the level of grant an authority receives through the Local Government Finance Settlement. In partnership with the Local Government Association and other local authority organisations we are reviewing the local government finance grant distribution formula. Until this review is concluded it is not possible to say which factors will have an impact on the level of future settlements.
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