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20 Jan 2005 : Column 1038W—continued

Gym Provision

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many gyms are available to the staff in the Department; and what the cost of providing them was in the last year for which figures are available. [204370]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department provides limited accommodation for gym facilities but has no ongoing costs regarding equipment. Staff may join local sports and social clubs/associations who may operate gym facilities but at no cost to the Department.

Rail Infrastructure (Investment)

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will give for each year since 1995 (a) total, (b) public and (c) private investment in the rail infrastructure in (i) Scotland, (ii) England, (iii) Wales and (iv) Great Britain; and how much was
 
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spent on (A) track repair and maintenance, (B) station repair and maintenance, (C) new track, (D) new station facilities, (E) other infrastructure repair and maintenance and (F) new infrastructure in each case; [207800]

(2) if he will give for each year since 1995 (a) total, (b) public and (c) private spending on the rail infrastructure (i) per person and (ii) per track mile in (A) Scotland, (B) England, (C) Wales and (D) Great Britain. [207801]

Mr. McNulty: The information is not available in the format requested. Total Government support for the rail industry is set out in table 6.2 of National Rail Trends and total investment in the rail industry is set out in table 6.4 of that document. A copy of National Rail Trends is available in the Library of the House and can be accessed on the Strategic Rail Authority's website at http://www.sra.gov.uk/pubs2/performance_ statistics/nrt

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the maintenance costs for the Forth Rail Bridge were for each year since 2000 (a) in total and (b) as a percentage of track and infrastructure maintenance costs in (i) Scotland and (ii) Great Britain. [207802]

Mr. McNulty: Network Rail advises that the information is not available in the form requested. However, since 1997 over £30 million has been invested on maintenance and refurbishment of the Forth Bridge.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether Scottish Executive Ministers will have responsibility for (a) maintaining and (b) paying for the maintenance of the Forth Rail Bridge under his proposals in the Railways Bill. [207803]

Mr. McNulty: Network Rail is responsible for maintaining the Forth Rail Bridge, and for meeting the initial cost of that maintenance. This is not affected by proposals in the Railways Bill. The Department for Transport and Scottish Executive are currently discussing the arrangements for devolving the responsibility for specifying and funding railway infrastructure in Scotland, as proposed in the White Paper 'The Future of Rail'.

Railways

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) railway stations and (b) miles of railway track there are in (i) Scotland, (ii) England and (iii) Great Britain. [207799]

Mr. McNulty: Network Rail advises that there are 2,507 railway stations in Great Britain, of which 341 are located in Scotland and 2,166 are located in England and Wales.

Of the 21,000 miles of track within Great Britain, 2,573 miles are located in Scotland and 18,427 miles are located in England and Wales.

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what provision he has made for the rejection of community railways by local communities; [209343]
 
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(2) if he will make a statement on the process by which local communities will be invited to comment on the designation of a railway line as a community railway. [209344]

Mr. McNulty: Before a line is designated as a community rail line, a formal consultation will take place with local authorities, the Rail Passengers Committee, local stakeholders and any existing community rail partnerships involved with the line. If it is found that there is insufficient local support for the proposition, the line will not be designated as a community rail line and will remain a part of the conventional national rail network.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the progress of the Crossrail project. [209426]

Mr. McNulty: A hybrid Bill seeking powers for the construction and operation of Crossrail will be introduced. An Environmental Statement will be deposited at the same time and will also be available on the internet. Between 10 and 19 February, Cross London Rail Links Ltd. are to undertake an Information Round, which will provide affected parties with further details of the scheme to be set out in the Bill.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much land which is not part of the rail network Crossrail will need to acquire in order to complete the project. [209427]

Mr. McNulty: The Crossrail Bill will set out in detail the powers of compulsory purchase that are being sought and identify the areas of land over which those powers will be exercised. A Bill will be introduced and will be accompanied by an Environmental Statement which will assess the significant likely environmental effects of the Crossrail scheme.

Railways Bill

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it is his policy that resources allocated to Scottish Executive Ministers as a result of the additional responsibilities to be devolved in the Railways Bill shall be allocated on the basis of (a) historic spending, (b) planned spending, (c) population share and (d) share of stations and track miles; and if he will make a statement. [207804]

Mr. McNulty: The methodology and level of resource transfer to the Scottish Executive is the subject of ongoing discussions with the Executive. I hope to be able to make a substantive announcement shortly.

Taxis

Mr. Geoffrey Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what definition he uses of a purpose built taxi. [209472]

Charlotte Atkins: We regard a purpose built taxi as a taxi which meets the Metropolitan Conditions of Fitness (MCF). The MCF were devised by the Licensing Authority for London and set out the criteria which taxis in London must meet.
 
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Underground System

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of (a) capital and (b) revenue expenditure (i) in total, (ii) from public and (iii) from private sources for each underground/tube system in the UK in each year since 1995; and what
 
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estimate he has made of (A) track, (B) station, (C) other and (D) total repair and maintenance costs for each system in each year since 1995. [207805]

Mr. McNulty: The information is not available in the format requested. The following table sets out London Underground's capital and revenue expenditure.
London Underground capital and revenue expenditure £ million (outturn prices)

	1995–96	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000(1)	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Capital expenditure2, 3	226	176	134	170	252	293	418	402	668
Jubilee Line Extension	587	660	476	283	655	—	—	—	—
Renewals	275	198	191	244	—	—	—	—	—
Total investment	1,088	1,034	801	697	907	293	418	402	668
Of which: Capital expenditure by PPP contractors	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	20	476
Revenue Expenditure	624	644	696	785	995	1,156	1,371	1,664	1,930

⁽¹⁾ In April 1999, London Underground adopted new accounting treatment for its investment expenditure which removed the category 'renewals' and reclassified such expenditure as capital or operating costs as appropriate. Therefore the figures up to and including 1998–99 are not directly comparable with those for subsequent years.
⁽²⁾ This includes the investment in fixed assets undertaken by the infracos under the PPP contracts, for those assets on LUL's balance sheet.
⁽³⁾ This excludes expenditure on assets provided under the PFI contracts, as they are not on LUL's balance sheet.
Source:
LUL Directors' Report and Accounts

London Underground does not record repair and maintenance expenditure by asset type, but the following table sets out repair and maintenance costs.
London Underground: Repair and maintenance, infrastructure companies costs and private finance initiative contract costs £ million (outturn prices)

	1995–96	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Repair and maintenance(4)	203	209	207	244	348	—	—	—	—
Infraco Operating Costs(5)	—	—	—	—	—	435	574	617	—
PPP Maintenance and Repair(6)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	83	824
PFI contract payments(7)	4	12	15	71	117	164	200	226	197
Total	207	221	222	315	465	599	774	926	1,021

⁽⁴⁾ These are the costs incurred on maintaining the operational railway prior to the establishment of the Infracos as separate subsidiary companies. The 1999–2000 figure includes £91 million that under the previous accounting policy would have been included in 'Renewals'.
⁽⁵⁾ Total operating costs of the Infraco subsidiaries while they remained within the LUL Group, which include all maintenance expenditure in those years.
⁽⁶⁾ This is the element of PPP Infrastructure Service Charge allocated which is apportioned to maintenance and included in LUL's profit and loss account.
⁽⁷⁾ Costs include the charges for the services provided under the PFI contracts (Connect, Power, British Transport Police accommodation, Prestige and Northern Line Trains). From the date of transfer of Infraco JNP (1 Jan 2003) the Northern Line Trains contract PFI became the responsibility of Tube Lines.

The only other underground system in the UK is Glasgow Underground, which is a devolved responsibility of the Scottish Executive and Parliament and on which the Department does not hold the information requested.

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