§ Sir John Cope (Northavon)(by private notice): To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make a statement on the rail crash in the Severn Tunnel on Saturday last.
§ The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Malcolm Rifkind)At about 10.35 on Saturday morning 7 December, the 07.00 hrs sprinter diesel train from Portsmouth to Cardiff collided with the rear of the 08.30 hrs InterCity 125 train from London, Paddington to Cardiff inside the Severn tunnel, about one and a quarter miles from the Newport end.
I understand from British Rail that the impact was less severe than it might have been, since both trains were on the move at the time, but some 90 passengers and the driver of the Portsmouth train were injured. Eight people, including the driver, were still in hospital this morning.
The House will wish to join me in expressing our sympathy with those who were injured and our hopes for their speedy recovery. I also pay tribute to the professionalism of the emergency services, who naturally faced difficulties in getting to the injured and in getting them out of the tunnel for treatment. The response by all involved was magnificent. [HON. MEMBERS: "Hear, hear."]
British Rail has accepted responsibility for the accident and will be starting its own internal inquiry tomorrow. I understand that the signalling and axle counter system, which is used to detect the location of trains in the tunnel, was not working normally at the time. An emergency procedure was in operation which should have ensured that only one train was in the tunnel. There are a number of questions to investigate, which may take some time. British Rail will make its results available to the Health and Safety Executive.
A principal inspecting officer from the Health and Safety Executive's railway inspectorate visited the scene of the accident. After consultation with the Health and Safety Commission, I shall be appointing an inspector to carry out an inquiry into the accident under the Regulation of Railways Act 1871. The inquiry will be wholly independent. The report will be published, and I have asked the inspector to report to me as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, British Rail will, of course, take immediate corrective action should the need for it emerge during any of these investigations. At this stage, the cause of the accident is not yet clear, and we cannot reach any conclusions until all the evidence is available.
§ Sir John CopeI thank my right hon. and learned Friend for that statement and, on behalf of my constituents, join him in sending sympathy to those who were injured in the accident. In addition, I should like to thank my right hon. and learned Friend for his well deserved tributes to the emergency services.
It is peculiarly frightening to have an accident in a tunnel, but that should not obscure the fact the Severn tunnel in particular, and the railways in general, have a very good accident record and that travelling by rail is safer than travelling by road. Will my right hon. and learned Friend say a bit more about communications? These days, we should expect the drivers of all trains to have two-way communication at all times with the signal box and those who are in control of the track. Does my 610 right hon. and learned Friend think that such communication would have contributed to avoiding the accident?
§ Mr. RifkindI thank my hon. Friend. He is right to emphasise the general safety level of the railways, which compares favourably with all other modes of transport. Tragically, some 5,000 people die on our roads every year, whereas only about 84 died on the railways during 1990.
As for communication, there is no way of knowing whether a cab radio would have made any difference in this accident, but I agree with my hon. Friend that it is desirable that cab radios should be fitted into locomotives and multiple unit fleets. Already, some 60 per cent. of British Rail locomotive and multiple unit fleets have some such radio installed. All regional railways will have such radios installed by June next year.
§ Mr. Roy Hughes (Newport, East)Does the Secretary of State appreciate that the Welsh entrance to the tunnel is in Caldicot in the Newport, East constituency? Local people there have been worried for some time about safety factors which affect the tunnel. For them, last Saturday was an accident that had been waiting to happen. I wrote to Sir Bob Reid, the chairman of British Rail, over 12 months ago expressing my constituents' concern. I also tabled early-day motion 186 in the last Session of Parliament, which was supported by no fewer than 39 hon. Members, calling for lighting throughout the tunnel and for closed circuit television. Certainly those facilities would have helped in the evacuation of the injured last Saturday. The Severn tunnel is a wonderful structure, which has served the travelling public well for over 100 years, but it is now badly in need of modernisation.
§ Mr. RifkindThe hon. Gentleman is right to emphasise that the Severn tunnel has served the travelling public extremely well for many years. Indeed, as far as I am aware, there have not been any previous accidents of this nature within the tunnel. I was interested in the points that the hon. Gentleman raised. Clearly the inquiry which is to take place will take into account any comments made by the hon. Gentleman which may be relevant to the cause of the accident or to reducing the prospects of any future incidents.
§ Mr. James Hill (Southampton, Test)My right hon. and learned Friend will be aware that on the train were constituents from not only the Portsmouth area but Southampton. We are gravely worried that a series of accidents seem to have taken place in which trains simply run into each other. Surely it must be tantamount to neglect of the safety of our railways if we do not spend more and more money on a system which can give early warning. Aircraft have transponder systems which locate the aircraft exactly so that everyone for several miles around knows where the aircraft is. Surely research and development can provide similar high technology for railway cabs. It is all very well to have two-way communication, but we need some high technology which will prevent trains from slamming into the back of each other.
§ Mr. RifkindMy hon. Friend is right to say that British Rail needs to use available modern technology to reduce further the incidence of accidents involving loss of life and injury on the railways. He will be pleased to know that the latest report of the railway inspectorate on railway safety 611 showed a modest reduction in the number of collisions between passenger trains in 1990 compared with the previous year. I know that that will be welcome to my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. Alex Carlile (Montgomery)May I join in the Secretary of State's praise for the emergency services, which acted magnificently, and also in his best wishes to those who were injured? This accident, and the collapse of a railway bridge within the recent past in Wales, together with declining standards and quality of service, raise serious questions about the competence of British Rail's management of the rail network in Wales. Will the Secretary of State please ask the chairman of British Rail to report to him as a matter of urgency on the state of British Rail in Wales an on its financing? Will he also ask the chairman to prepare—at long last—a strategic plan for co-ordinated rail services in Wales, as those services are in a poor state?
§ Mr. RifkindWe naturally expect British Rail to attach the greatest importance to safety considerations. That is also the view of the chairman of British Rail, and is matched by the resources that the Government make available. The resources available for safety have increased from £140 million to about £200 million for the current year, and are likely to continue at at least that level. It would be unwise for the hon. and learned Gentleman or for anyone else to draw conclusions about what might have been the cause of this accident. We do not have the information today which would entitle us to draw any conclusions of that kind.
§ Mr. David Martin (Portsmouth, South)May I associate myself with my right hon. and learned Friend's comments about the injuries of people on the train? May I also welcome the inquiry that he has announced? As the cause of the accident is not clear, will he deplore the remarks of the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, East (Mr. Prescott) and others who are already speculating on the causes of the accident and criticising the Government for not investing enough in the railways? That is always the knee-jerk reaction of Opposition Members, who say that we are not spending enough money, without saying precisely how they would improve situations such as this.
§ Mr. RifkindYes, my hon. Friend is correct. I am afraid that the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, East (Mr. Prescott) has a regrettable tendency not to bother with the facts, but to jump to conclusions in the immediate aftermath of any accident, before any of the facts are known to him or to anyone else.
§ Mr. Donald Anderson (Swansea, East)Without going into matters which might be the subject of the inquiry, can the Secretary of State confirm, first, that there have been recurrent problems with the signalling at either end of the line, as a result of the damp; and, secondly, the system in case of an emergency and a red light was for the relevant engine drivers physically to get out of the cab and use a telephone near the tunnel? Although that will be remedied by next June, is it not somewhat antiquated that such a system has persisted for so long?
§ Mr. RifkindI said in my orginal response that there was a failure in the signalling system at the time, and that is why the emergency procedure was in operation. I agreed with the other hon. Member who mentioned radios in 612 cabs—they are being introduced into all new cabs and into existing cabs. All regional railways will have such equipment by June next year.
§ Mr. Ian Grist (Cardiff, Central)Can my right hon. and learned Friend confirm that it took the emergency services an hour to reach the injured, and that another hour went past before the 125 was able to move off? Many people were therefore trapped for a long time. Does he not think that that could be improved on in any future, but hopefully never to be repeated accident?
§ Mr. RifkindI think that it must have been a frightening experience for people trapped within the train for that time. I understand that one of the reasons why it took longer than one would have wished was that the emergency services went to the inappropriate end of the tunnel, further away from the train, and had to be redirected to the other end, which gave easier access to the two trains.
§ Mr. Dafydd Wigley (Caernarfon)Does the Secretary of State recall that, earlier this year, when he was talking about the increase in BR's external financing, he said that there would be £70 million more for safety matters? Does he accept that a fail-safe system—an automatic train protection system—would cost nearer £390 million and is a matter of urgency? If we are to overcome this sort of problem in future we must put even greater resources into British Rail to safeguard trains, crews and passengers.
§ Mr. RifkindBritish Rail is at the moment testing automatic train protection, and the Chiltern line has a pilot scheme which, if successful, will enable ATP to be implemented elsewhere on the network.
§ Mr. Robert Hayward (Kingswood)Will my right hon. and learned Friend confirm that he will ask the chairman of British Rail urgently to look at the position of the tunnels further along the line to ensure that precautions similar to those that are being instituted in the Severn tunnel will also be made in those tunnels if signalling changes have taken place recently associated with the general modernisation work?
§ Mr. RifkindYes, it will be appropriate for both British Rail's internal inquiry and the inquiry that I have announced under the railway inspectorate to look at all the implications that may be relevant to the work being, undertaken.
§ Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody (Crewe and Nantwich)Will the Secretary of State, without waiting for the report, send for the chairman of British Rail and, exceptionally, offer him enough money to allow him to put into operation an immediate emergency programme for the renewal of signalling systems? It is clear that signalling is one of the vital factors that, unfortunately, has contributed in the immediate past to several major accidents.
§ Mr. RifkindThe hon. Lady should not jump to conclusions. My understanding is that the signalling in the Severn tunnel area is relatively new, and was installed in the relatively recent past. The suggestion inherent in her question—that the signalling is antiquated—does not appear to be justified.
§ Mr. Robert Adley (Christchurch)Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Northavon (Mr. Cope) that the crash in the 613 tunnel was frightening, but that the problem was not caused by junctions, so we should not associate what happened at Purley, for example, with what happened in the Severn tunnel? Is my right hon. and learned Friend familiar with the automatic warning system of the Great Western railway, which has kept this tunnel and hundreds of miles of railway line safe for years?
We now seem to have a serious problem with some of the new technology. My right hon. and learned Friend has announced an internal inquiry. In view of the importance of signalling and telecommunications to the railways, would it not be sensible quietly to contemplate the proposition of an independent inquiry into all the technological changes that are taking place on British Rail signalling?
While the subject—
§ Mr. SpeakerBriefly please.
§ Mr. AdleyAs the subject of funds for British Rail has been mentioned, will my right hon. and learned Friend have a look at two points quickly—
§ Mr. SpeakerOne point.
§ Mr. AdleyOne point. On locomotive-hauled trains, a flashing red light is used by British Rail, while on multiple units a static light is used. Is not that one matter that could be rearranged? Surely a flashing red light would be far more visible in a tunnel than a static light?
§ Mr. RifkindI am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has considerable knowledge of these matters. I will direct his point to the chairman of British Rail, so that the matters are taken into account. My hon. Friend suggested that there would be only an internal inquiry. British Rail is conducting an internal inquiry, but the inquiry that I have announced today, which is to be held by the Health and Safety Executive, will be a public inquiry under the Regulation of Railways Act 1871.
§ Mr. John Prescott (Kingston upon Hull, East)May I on behalf of the House offer our deepest sympathy to those who were injured and hope that they have a speedy recovery? Indeed, may I express once again our great admiration for the skill and courage of those involved in our emergency services?
614 Is the Secretary of State aware that it is almost three years to the day that we heard of the Clapham rail tragedy, which was caused by faulty signalling and negligence? Is he further aware that last week we heard of a thousand signalling faults on British Rail followed by this further terrible accident in the Severn tunnel, involving signal faults and negligence yet again? [HON. MEMBERS:"HOW do you know?"] British Rail has already accepted responsibility for the matter, as the Secretary of State has pointed out.
That undoubtedly goes a long way to explaining the inspectors' report. I hope that the Secretary of State will look again at the figures, instead of looking at them superficially as he has done, to see that, in the past five years, the incidence of passenger train collisions has increased by 40 per cent. over the average for the past 10 years. That is the point that is causing the travelling public great concern.
Can the Secretary of State tell us, three years after Clapham, what the total cost is of implementing the Hidden recommendations to make our system safer? Has the Department completed the review of the investment for safety, as required by Hidden? Finally, does he accept that the general public want to see him and his Department using all their energies to ensure the implementation of a safe, reliable railway, instead of producing a White Paper on the privatisation of British Rail?
§ Mr. RifkindThe hon. Gentleman is really behaving disgracefully—[Interruption.]—when he accuses British Rail of negligence before an inquiry has even begun, and when he has not the slightest idea of what caused that accident. The hon. Gentleman is in danger of becoming like a vulture scavenging around every incident, irrespective of the facts and of the accusations that he makes against other people.
The hon. Gentleman referred in his question, and in a conversation on radio during the weekend, to what he describes as "an increasing number" of passenger train collisions. As the hon. Gentleman must know perfectly well from the railway safety report, published only last week, the total number of significant collisions in 1989 was 85, and in 1990 it was 59. If that is what the hon. Gentleman describes as an increasing rate of passenger train collisions, it shows that he does not deserve the attention or respect of the House.