§ 35. Mr. Sparksasked the Minister of War Transport what arrangements are being made by the main line railway companies to deal with traffic passing during the Christmas period; whether sufficient accommodation will be available for the travelling public; what restrictions will be 876 fatal and otherwise, to members of the public whilst travelling on the railways in Great Britain; what percentage this bears to the total travelling public; and the total of passenger train miles run, for the years 1938 to 1944 and for the first 10 months of 1945.
§ Mr. BarnesAs the answer contains a number of figures, I am circulating the information in the OFFICIAL REPORT to-gether with additional particulars, where available, of the passenger-miles per casualty, which give a truer comparison, than passenger journeys per casualty. It will be seen that in 1944, in train accidents, one passenger was killed in 150 millions carried and one seriously injured f in 54 millions.
§ Following is the information:
§ imposed upon travel and the transit of goods; and whether the staff position has improved sufficiently to enable improved services to run this Christmas.
§ Mr. BarnesPassenger traffic before and after Christmas is likely to be heavy and the railways will do everything in their power to deal with it by providing 877 such additional trains as their limited resources of staff, locomotives and carriages permit. The services will be an improvement on those provided last Christmas, but notwithstanding this trains are likely to be crowded. Train services on Christmas Day will generally be the same as on an ordinary Sunday and on Boxing Day as on an ordinary weekday, except that workmen's and business trains will be cancelled and there will be some augmentation of services in the afternoon and evening. The acceptance of merchandise traffic over the Christmas holiday will be, so far as practicable, in accordance with the needs of industry.