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14 Jul 2003 : Column 28W—continued

Rail Travel

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the percentage of train passengers who travel to and from stations by (a) car and (b) taxi. [125748]

Mr. McNulty: The National Travel Survey shows that, in the three years 1999–2001, where surface rail was the main mode of transport, a car was used for 30 per cent. of trips to travel to and from the station. A further 6 per cent. of trips involved the use of a taxi or minicab.

Railways

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has (a) to refurbish railway stations and (b) to replace track from Liverpool Street to Romford. [125374]

Mr. McNulty: Network Rail are responsible for the maintenance and renewal of all railway infrastructure, including track. They have a continuing programme of track maintenance and renewal between London Liverpool Street and Romford. Stations are being repainted along this section of line by the train operator. Further work on stations is being discussed in the negotiations for the letting of the Greater Anglia rail franchise.

Regional Airports

Mr. Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the countries which have (a) agreed, (b) failed to agree and (c) not responded to his predecessor's statement of 10 June 1998 on multilateral agreements on 3rd and 4th freedoms at regional airports. [125342]

Mr. McNulty: Officials wrote to our bilateral aviation partners in June 1998 proposing to lift all capacity restrictions on services between UK airports, other than London Heathrow and London Gatwick, and points in the other country by airlines of both sides.

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The responses to the offer are:

(a) accepted the offer


(b) rejected the offer


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(d) We did not write to the following countries because the air service arrangements do not specify capacity or frequency limits, which in our view provides unlimited access to UK regional airports:

All European Union Member States


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(e) Due to political and/or aviation bilateral considerations, we have not made the regional access offer to the following countries:


Road Safety

Mr. Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the effect of providing lighting on the whole of the motorway system on the number of recorded accidents. [125344]

Mr. Jamieson: No estimate has been made of the effect of lighting the whole of the motorway network. Research has shown that where motorway lighting is provided the number of reported accidents can be reduced by about 8 per cent. and can result in a reduction of night-time personal injury accidents by as much as 30 per cent.

Lighting is generally only provided where there are particular problems and where the economic assessments show the cost of installation and operation of lighting is exceeded by the benefits of reduced night-time accidents. At present, approximately 30 per cent. of motorways are lit.

Roads

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many trunk road projects are proposed; [125512]

Mr. Jamieson: My Department is only responsible for road projects in England outside London. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State's, statement to this House on 9 July made clear our commitment to improving the nation's roads and other forms of transport, in both the immediate and the longer terms.

The Government's Target Programme of Improvements currently contains 72 major trunk road improvement proposals tackling congestion, providing safety benefits and relieving communities of traffic. Since June last year, 12 other major trunk road schemes have been opened. A number of other major trunk road improvements have been proposed, mainly through the multi-modal study process. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's announcement covered 11 of these studies. The Highways Agency have been asked to do further development work on over 30 road proposals, includingactive traffic management and other technology related improvements on various parts of the motorway and trunk road network. Similar work is

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also being carried out on other projects following our responses to eight other multi-modal studies within the last two years.

Since December 2000, over 60 major road schemes, often bringing safety and quality of life benefits, have been proposed by local authorities and received provisional or full approval by the Government to proceed. We are expecting around 20 further such proposals to be submitted as part of this year's Local Transport Settlement process.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the backlog of road maintenance is in England; [125514]

Mr. Jamieson: There is not a backlog of maintenance on motorways and trunk roads in England.

On local roads the maintenance backlogs were estimated in 2000 as £2 billion on carriageways and footways, £750 million on bridges and other structures, and £1

billion on street lighting. Since then the Department, through the Roads Liaison Group, has been developing better inventory systems and condition indicators that will allow more accurate and up to date estimates to be made of backlogs.

The Government is committed in the 10 Year Plan for Transport to tackling all the backlogs in local road maintenance by 2010 and is providing £31 billion of funding over the Plan's period for this purpose.

Streetworks

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to release a consultation paper on streetworks legislation. [126022]

Mr. Jamieson: We have held a series of consultations in recent years as part of revisions to the secondary legislation governing utility street works under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991. Most recently, consultation ended on 27 June on a revised version of the "Code of Practice for the Co-ordination of Street Works and Highway Works".

Officials in my department have also held a series of consultative meetings recently with representatives of utility companies and local authorities about possible changes to the legislative framework governing utility works which might be included in a forthcoming Traffic Management Bill.

West Coast Main Line

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many extra trains will be able to run carrying passengers on the West Coast main line following the upgrade. [125752]

Dr. Howells: The West Coast Main Line Strategy, published by the Strategic Rail Authority in June 2003, provides for an 80 per cent. increase in the route's capacity for long distance passenger trains

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Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the anticipated rate of profit or loss on the West Coast mainline upgrade investment is. [125759]

Dr. Howells: The West Coast Main Line Strategy, published by the Strategic Rail Authority in June 2003, estimates the passenger and freight benefits of the upgrade investment to be more than twice the costs.

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