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Rail Investment

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much investment took place in the railways in each year between 1991 and 1997; and how much was met by public funds. [28736]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to Table 4.2 of the strategic rail authority's quarterly national rail trends bulletin for an historic series of investment in the rail industry. Government support to the rail industry is shown in Table 4.1 of the same bulletin.

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Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the total level of private investment, less public expenditure supporting private investment, was in the railways for each year 2001–02 to 2010–11 as (a) allocated in the 10 year transport plan of July 2000 and (b) allocated in the strategic rail authority's plan of January 2002 at (i) outturn prices and (ii) 2000–01 prices. [31202]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to Table A3 of the 10 year plan for transport and to the written answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Judy Mallaber) on 29 January 2002, Official Report, columns 177–78W.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what is the total spending on the railways each year between 2001–02 to 2010–11 as (a) allocated in the 10-year transport plan of July 2000 and (b) allocated in the Strategic Rail Authority's plan of January 2002, at (i) outturn prices and (ii) 2000–01 prices. [31201]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Lynne Jones) on 23 January 2002, Official Report, columns 871–72W, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Judy Mallaber) on 29 January 2002, Official Report, columns 177–78W.

Channel Tunnel Freight Services

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many freight services used the channel tunnel in each month since January 2000. [29584]

Mr. Jamieson: The figures for the number of trains are in the following table provided by EWSI, the UK operator of these services:

	2000	2001
January	522	615
February	632	621
March	688	657
April	616	395
May	633	672
June	656	676
July	671	637
August	464	503
September	595	586
October	618	594
November	661	291
December	551	255

Train Operating Companies

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps

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his Department has taken to ensure that money received in payments from train operating companies is reinvested directly into the railways; and if he will make a statement. [30346]

Mr. Jamieson: All additional receipts received so far from performance regimes will be used to contribute to expenditure within the SRA budget, allowing greater activity to be undertaken than would otherwise be the case.

Railtrack

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions whether he has received representations from parties other than Railtrack about the funding provision for Control Period 2. [30252]

Mr. Jamieson: Rail funding provision for the first two years of Control Period 2 (CP2) was set in Spending Review 2000 and in the 2 April 2001 agreement between the Government and Railtrack. That for the last three years of CP2 will be set in Spending Review 2002, for which I have received representations from the Strategic Rail Authority who have, in turn, received representations from various rail industry interests.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 11 December 2001, Official Report, column 784W, on minimum track standards, what proportion of track did not meet the minimum required standard for the (a) 35mm rail top profile and (b) 70mm rail top profile (i) in each year since 1994 and (ii) predicted for each year up to 2011, as illustrated in Figure 26 of the Railtrack Network Management Statement 2000. [31595]

Mr. Jamieson: Railtrack's progress in improving track geometry is measured against the target agreed with the Rail Regulator as part of the periodic review for the second control period, which came into effect on 1 April 2001. The measured values reported at the end of the last financial year to enable comparison with the agreed target improvement programme are given in Table 3.2 of Railtrack's 2001 Network Management Statement Part One.

Train Drivers

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many drivers were employed on the railways (a) immediately before privatisation and (b) at the most recent date for which figures are available. [30244]

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Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) on 28 January 2002, Official Report, column 54W.

Crossrail

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what parts of Crossrail he estimates can be implemented while Railtrack is in administration. [31026]

Mr. Jamieson: The Crossrail project definition work currently being undertaken jointly by the Strategic Rail Authority and Transport for London will continue on the same basis as before Railtrack administration. It has always been expected that a special purpose vehicle would be set up to take forward any scheme which might be developed as a result of the project definition work.

Rail 10-year Plan

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list those projects in the SRA 10-year plan that he estimates can be implemented while Railtrack is in administration. [31025]

Mr. Spellar: There is no reason in principle why any proposal contained in the Strategic Plan should not be capable of being implemented while Railtrack is in administration.

Leominster Station

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he plans to install disabled access to the southbound platform at Leominster station. [30976]

Mr. Jamieson: While the northbound platform at Leominister station is accessible I am not aware of any current plans to make the southbound platform accessible to those with disabilities. The SRA makes available funding to ensure train operating companies are resourced, where necessary, to implement the requirement of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 on access to stations.

Rail Safety

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the legislation which allows the prosecution of (a) train operating companies, (b) train drivers and (c) Railtrack in relation to passing signals at danger. [31196]

Mr. Jamieson: The Health and Safety law allowing prosecution following a signal passed at danger (SPAD) is as follows:

	Legislation allowing prosecution of:
	Railtrack	Train operators	Drivers
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974	Yes	Yes	Yes
Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 2000	Yes	Yes	No
Railways (Safety Critical Work) Regulations 1994	Yes	Yes	No
Railway Safety (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1997	Yes	Yes	No
Railway Safety Regulations 1999	Yes	Yes	No

In addition the Crown Prosecution Service can prosecute drivers and employers of drivers for manslaughter, and drivers for being under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

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Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the (a) date, (b) location and (c) level of penalty of all incidents of signals passed at danger that have resulted in prosecution of (i) train operating companies and (ii) Railtrack in each year since 1995–96. [31200]

Mr. Jamieson: Great Western Train Co Ltd. was fined £1.5 million at the Old Bailey on 27 July 1999 following a collision due to a signal passed at danger at Southall on 19 September 1997.

There have been no prosecutions of Railtrack.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 10 December 2001, Official Report, column 586W, on rail safety, whether the supervision of rail signal boxes will be monitored by the Health and Safety Executive. [31589]

Mr. Jamieson: The supervision of rail signal boxes is a matter for Railtrack.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps (a) his Department and (b) the Health and Safety Executive have taken to reduce the total number of signals passed at danger within categories three to eight in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [31199]

Mr. Jamieson: Details of actions being taken by the rail industry to reduce the total number of SPADs, including serious SPADs, are reported in the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) monthly SPAD reports which are held in the House of Commons Library and are published on the HSE website http://www.house.gov.uk/ railway/spad/index.htm.

On 23 January HSE also published three reports which set out the steps being taken to reduce SPADs: Report on the assessment of Railtrack's response to an Improvement Notice covering the "Top 22" signals passed most often at danger (for the period 1990–98); Report on the assessment of Railtrack's management of multi-SPAD signals; and HMRI's inspection of driver management in train operating companies.

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