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22 Jan 2008 : Column 1824W—continued
Railways: Passengers
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will list the 10 railway (a) stations and (b) lines which had the largest (i) percentage and (ii) gross increase in passenger numbers in the latest year for which figures are available. [180273]
Mr. Tom Harris [holding answer 21 January 2008]: The Department does not hold this information. The Office of Rail Regulation does however publish "National Rail Trends" on a quarterly basis. This document shows a variety of industry information and statistics including journey and revenue information by three sectors of operators, "Long Distance", "London and South East", and "Regional".
Railways: Planning
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps are being taken to safeguard potential railway routes from development. [181159]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Government do not propose to take a blanket approach to safeguarding all potential alignments or disused lines. This would be disproportionate and blight homes and properties. Strict controls are already in place for the development of railway land and local authorities can use local planning processes to protect sites or alignments if they deem this appropriate.
Railways: Standards
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) punctuality and reliability statistics and (b) passengers in excess numbers were for rail services on (i) the Portsmouth to Cardiff, (ii) Portsmouth to London via Guildford, (iii) Portsmouth to London via Basingstoke and (iv) Southampton to Havant routes in each month since January 2005. [180613]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Department does not hold punctuality and reliability information broken down by service groups. Inquiries relating to data should be made to the relevant train operating companies.
Chief Operating Officer
First Great Western
Head Office
Milford House
1 Milford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HL
Managing Director
South West Trains
Friars Bridge Court
41-45 Blackfriars Road
London
SE1 8NZ
The numbers of passengers on rail services running in excess of capacity is shown in the following table:
| Number of passengers on all rail services in excess of capacity in each peak | ||||
| 2005 | 2006 | |||
| Route | AM | PM | AM | PM |
| n/a = Not available. | ||||
The data in the table relate to the previous South West Trains franchise. Data for the successor Stagecoach South Western Trains Franchise in autumn 2007 are being collected and are currently not available.
The rail White Paper was published in July 2007. It sets out the resources we intend to make available to the rail industry and the increases in capacity, as well as safety and performance, that we expect the industry to deliver in return.
There are no specific requirements regarding levels of overcrowding on these routes. The Department's general requirements for overcrowding are that passengers should not be expected to stand for more than 20 minutes.
Railways: Watford
Sir Malcolm Rifkind: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what her policy is on Southern Trains' proposal to withdraw its Watford to Brighton service; if she will make it her policy to preserve the Watford to Brighton service through conversion of trains to dual-voltage to operate on Thameslink; and if she will make a statement. [179559]
Mr. Tom Harris: While there are some trains that could be converted from single- to dual-voltage, those trains are all in full use on other services from which they cannot be released, and therefore not available to preserve the Watford to Brighton service. The Government have already announced the intention to procure 1,300 additional vehicles for the rail network in England and Wales between 2008 and 2014.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the likely effect of the withdrawal of Southern Trains' Watford to Brighton service on passengers with disabilities or heavy luggage required to change platforms at Clapham Junction. [179560]
Mr. Tom Harris: Clapham Junction is one of 92 stations selected for major improvements as part of the £370 million “Access for All” project. This will benefit all those passengers with disabilities who may need to change trains at Clapham Junction, including the few who wish to travel between Watford and Brighton.
Regulation
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for which regulators and inspectorates her Department has had responsibility in each year since 1997; what the budget was of each such body in each year; and what the cost to the public purse was of any restructuring of each such body in each year. [175313]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Since its formation on 29 May 2002, the Department has had responsibility for the Civil Aviation Authority which is responsible for the regulation of civil aviation in the United Kingdom. The CAA is financially independent of Government and is financed by those it regulates. The financial statements for the CAA are published in its annual accounts.
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) was formed on 1 April 2003 following the merger of the Vehicle Inspectorate and the Traffic Area Network division of the Department for Transport. VOSA provides a range of licensing, testing and enforcement services with the aim of improving the roadworthiness standards of vehicles ensuring the compliance of operators and drivers with road traffic legislation, and supporting the independent Traffic Commissioners. The financial statements for the Vehicle Inspectorate were published in its annual accounts.
Roads
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many detrunking orders her Department has made in each of the last 10 years. [180412]
Mr. Tom Harris: In the last 10 years (1998-2007) there have been a total of 205 detrunking orders predominantly for short lengths of the trunk road network. A breakdown of these detrunking orders by year is given in the following table:
| Number | |
Shipping: Containers
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many containers were lost overboard from container ships in UK coastal waters in each of the last 10 years. [180609]
Jim Fitzpatrick: In the period of time specified the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has operated two databases to record incidents, including recording where containers are lost overboard. There is no separate database to record the loss of containers.
The MCA relies on ships reporting loss of containers in accordance with national and European legislation.
To give a specific number would require a manual interrogation of the incident recording system and that would incur disproportionate costs.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what processes are in place to report losses of shipping containers at sea. [180612]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The vessel traffic monitoring directive covers the reporting of hazardous incidents including the loss of containers at sea. Any vessel losing containers is obliged to report the loss to Her Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) in the UK. Reports of containers lost will be captured in the Consolidated European Reporting System (CERS).
Vessels encountering lost containers at sea are obliged under the Merchant Shipping (Safety of Navigation) Regulations 2002 to report hazardous incidents to HMCG in the UK.
South West Trains: Rolling Stock
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2008, Official Report, column 1094W, on South West Trains, what the internal specifications are for (a) seating and (b) stand alone tables for (i) suburban, (ii) mainline and (iii) mainline express rolling stock units; into which of these categories (A) class 442 and (B) class 444 units fall; and if she will make a statement. [180674]
Mr. Tom Harris: A guidance note for interior design of trains has been issued by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). This document will have been taken into account by the designers of new trains like Class 444 and in the refurbishment of older trains like Class 442.
For further information and a copy of this document please contact either South West Trains or ATOC at the following addresses:
Friars Bridge Court
41-45 Blackfriars road
London
SE1 8NZ
Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC)
3rd Floor
40 Bernard street
London
WC1N 1BY
Train Operating Companies: Fines
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on which occasions the Rail Regulator has imposed penalties on rail companies in each of the last three years; what penalty was imposed; on which company it was imposed; for what reasons it was imposed; and to what purpose the fines have been put. [179745]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has imposed the following penalties on railway companies in the last three years:
All the penalties levied were paid into the Consolidated Fund. Any penalties on rail companies following prosecution for breaches of health and safety legislation would be determined by the courts.
Trains: Standards
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 10 January 2008, Official Report, column 700W, on trains: standards, whether the full report commissioned by South West Trains was made available for review by Passenger Focus; and if she will make a statement. [180228]
Mr. Tom Harris: The full report was made available for independent review by Passenger Focus and the findings of the subsequent report published on the South West Trains website. Passenger Focus has confirmed the published findings to be an accurate reflection of the report.
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