Advanced Passenger Train

HC Deb 23 December 1981 vol 15 cc982-3

10. Mr. Adley

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will travel on the advanced passenger train as part of his assessment of this grant-aided project.

16. Mr. Hooley

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what is the total estimated capital cost of bringing the advanced passenger train fully into scheduled services on inter-city routes.

17. Mr. Les Huckfield

asked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make a further statement on the tilt mechanism of the advanced passenger train and the allocation of his Department's funding for its development.

Mr. David Howell

I have already travelled on one of the advanced passenger train prototypes, which worked very well on my journey. I cannot say what the capital cost of further APTs would be until the board submits proposals for their construction. Approval of a fleet of APTs will depend on the success of the prototypes in commercial service. I and the board will also wish to be convinced that such a fleet would be good value for money and that the board's inter-city business could support the investment involved.

Mr. Adley

Is not investment in railway technology in Britain puny compared with that in France? We have spent on the APT less than one-twentieth of the amount that the French have spent on the line from Paris to Lyon, which incorporated no advanced technology. Will my right hon. Friend try to reverse the sad, age-old saga in Britain that we have the finest inventors in the world, but that we are hopeless at financing and marketing such projects?

Mr. Howell

I appreciate my hon. Friend's feeling, but it is not always clever just to spend more money. It is important to have the right and most innovative technology. The advanced passenger train is skilled and ingenious technology. As my hon. Friend knows, it runs better on curvy routes. Therefore one is not faced with the need, as was the case with the Paris to Lyon line, to build a completely new and very expensive track. Those considerations, as well as the money spent, must be kept in mind.

Mr. Whitehead

Is not the APT adapted technology as well as innovative, which is one of its great strengths? Although £37 million has been spent so far, it still represents value for money. Will the Minister confirm that during the two months before the disasters that overtook the APT in the severe weather last week it ran trouble-free on that route?

Mr. Howell

Yes. My trip was trouble-free, and the hon. Gentleman's word "adapted" is the appropriate word in this case.