§ 80. Mr. EDEasked the Minister of Transport if he will state the mileage of railway lines radiating from Newcastle- 1323 upon-Tyne that are regarded by him as surburban; the mileage that has been electrified; and whether he is taking any steps to secure that an additional mileage, especially including the lines to South Shields and Sunderland, shall be electrified at once?
§ Mr. HERBERT MORRISONI am afraid I could not give any exact figures in regard to the point raised in the first part of my hon. Friend's question. As regards the second part, 68 track miles of running lines in the Tyneside area have been electrified. As regards the third part I would refer to the answers which I gave to questions by him on this subject on the 20th November and 18th December last. As will no doubt be appreciated, it must rest primarily with the railway company concerned to decide the priority of schemes for the improvement of their system and I do not propose at present to press them further with regard to this proposal.