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18 Jan 2006 : Column 1383W—continued
Railways
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to ensure that railway ticket prices represent value for money for passengers. [41042]
Derek Twigg: The Department for Transport is investing around £87 million per week to improve the service that passengers receive when travelling by train. Improvements include improved reliability, new trains and faster journeys on many routes.
In addition, the Department regulates the price of certain fares, including commuter fares around London and other urban areas. In real terms these fares are now 3 percent. lower than in 1995, and the average annual increase in regulated fares is now limited to inflation+1 percent. On other routes, train operators compete with cars, coach companies and airlines and train operators will set fares on a commercial basis to attract passengers onto their services.
18 Jan 2006 : Column 1384W
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the change in rail freight's share of domestic freight traffic was in each year since 2000–01. [40565]
Derek Twigg: The information requested is set out as follows.
| Billion tonne kilometres | Percentage of all freight traffic | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 18.1 | 7 |
| 2001 | 19.4 | 8 |
| 2002 | 18.7 | 7 |
| 2003 | 18.9 | 8 |
| 2004 | 20.7 | 8 |
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he expects the peak in public investment in rail to be in 2005–06 as set out in Transport 2010—the Ten Year Plan. [40866]
Derek Twigg: The Government's spending plans for rail were originally set out in Transport Ten Year Plan document published in July 2000. These spending plans were updated in the Department for Transport Progress Report published December 2002.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's statement to the House of 10 February 2005, Official Report, columns 93–96WS, set out how the Department for Transport intends to allocate money on railways until April 2009.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many operational passenger rail carriages there were on the rail network in each of the past 10 years. [39281]
Derek Twigg: The information is not held in the form requested. The number of vehicles on lease at the sale of the Rolling Stock Leasing Companies recorded in the invitation to tender in March 1995, was 10,401 vehicles. The number of vehicles on lease now is approximately 11,000 vehicles.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions railway officials have been required to refuse passengers access to a train because of overcrowding in each of the past three years. [39279]
Derek Twigg: The Department for Transport does not hold this information.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which railway stations have had security measures fitted in each of the last five years. [40574]
Derek Twigg: The Government places a requirement on rail operators to implement a range of security measures across the UK rail network. Following the attacks on 7 July the security response level across the UK rail network increased to its highest level resulting in a tightening of the existing security requirements. For security reasons it would be inappropriate to go into detail. We continue to look at what further practical security measures can be taken to protect transport targets.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) pursuant to the answer of 14 November 2005, Official Report, column 895W, on railways, how
18 Jan 2006 : Column 1385W
much was paid to each train operating company for each management only contract; and with which company each contract was made; [39378]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 14 November 2005, Official Report, column 895W, on railways, how many franchises he expects his Department to operate under management-only contracts in each year between 2005 and 2008. [39379]
Derek Twigg: Management only contracts are those where the DfT Rail Group takes the full risk for the operation and pays the train operating company a management fee.
The following table shows the companies and franchise values for each year requested.
| First North Western | Anglia Railways | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 146.7 | n/a |
| 2002 | 173.3 | (18)-2.3 |
| 2003 | 179.6 | (18)-6.4 |
| 2004 | 185.5 | (18)-1.5 |
| 2005 | 103.4 | 0.8 |
| 2006 | n/a | n/a |
| 2007 | n/a | n/a |
| 2008 | n/a | n/a |
n/a = Not available.
(18) Net payment back to the SRA after management fee payment to Anglia positive.
Notes:
1. Positive numbers indicate a payment to the company.
2. Negative numbers indicate a receipt from the company.
Source:
All figures are sourced from the SRA 2005 annual report.
For the years 2006–08, no management only contracts are expected to be let.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the change in passenger numbers on the railways in each year between 2006 and 2014. [39280]
Derek Twigg: The Department for Transport's latest published central projections for rail usage can be found in the paper the The Future of Transport: Modelling and Analysis" published on 21 March 2005, which is available on the Department's website. This shows rail passenger kilometres increasing by 33 percent. between 2000 and 2010, implying growth of around 3.5 percent. a year for the rest of the decade. From 2010 to 2025 the projection shows growth of 1.3 percent. a year.
Rapid Transport Lines
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list rapid transport lines built in the last five years. [40580]
Derek Twigg: There are six new rapid transport lines which have been built in the last five years. These are:
Croydon Tramlink and the Manchester Metrolink Phase II extension to Eccles both opened in 2000.
Road User Pricing Schemes
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the implications of the EU requirement that from 2010 EU member states must vary charges for lorries using the trans-European road network according to their Euro emissions class for plans for road user pricing schemes in Britain. [42713]
Dr. Ladyman: The agreement on amending Directive 1999/62 on toll charges for goods vehicles will require that, where member states choose to apply tolls for heavy goods vehicles on the Trans-European Road Network, they must be differentiated according to their Euro emissions class.
The UK was able to accept this requirement as we consider that it can be readily assimilated into any road pricing arrangements that might be applied in the UK, and would have the benefit of providing an incentive for cleaner vehicles.
Rural Bus Subsidy Grant
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what schemes have been put in place under the Rural Bus Subsidy Grant; and if he will list the towns which have received funding. [40560]
Ms Buck: Rural Bus Subsidy Grant (RBSG) is allocated to Local Transport Authorities in England on the basis of population numbers living in rural areas. The grant is used by authorities to provide new and enhanced rural bus services and other services to improve rural accessibility, for example demand responsive transport or taxibus services. Decisions on which services to support are a matter for each authority. The Department does not collect information on the particular towns served as a result of these decisions. However, monitoring returns for 2003–04 show that in that year RBSG was used to support a total of about 2,200 services on which over 29 million passenger journeys were made (data for 2004–05 is currently being collected).
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