HC Deb 03 July 1995 vol 263 cc10-1
11. Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding his Department intends to make available to enable British Rail and Railtrack to carry out the recommendations of the inquiry into the Cowden crash; and what estimate his Department has made of the cost of those recommendations to British Rail and Railtrack. [30128]

Mr. Watts

British Rail and Railtrack are evaluating the inspector's recommendations, some of which require programmes of research.

Mrs. Dunwoody

Since the Secretary of State—along with everything else that he is junking—has announced that he is not interested in progressing with the advanced train protection scheme, and since the inspector said specifically in the report that the installation of such a system would be a minimum requirement in all new trains, how can the Minister seriously come to the Dispatch Box and pretend that the Government are interested in the safety of those who use the railways?

Mr. Watts

On the contrary, my right hon. Friend announced in March that he had accepted in full the advice on ATP from the Health and Safety Executive and that British Rail and Railtrack would put in train further development work on alternatives to ATP, which could deliver some of its benefits. It was also accepted that ATP should be an integral feature of all high-speed lines and that careful consideration should be given to including it in any major resignalling. The hon. Lady is simply wrong.

Mr. Meacher

Further to my hon. Friend's question, when will the Government implement the recommendations of the Cowden inquiry inspector and of the Hidden committee report on the Clapham crash six years before, that, as a minimum, all new high-speed railways should be fitted with some form of ATP? Is he aware that the installation of an ATP system covering the busiest 30 per cent. of the rail network, and thereby 80 per cent. of passenger miles, could have saved dozens of lives in the past five years, at a cost of less than half of what the Government spent in the same period on promoting rail privatisation? When are the Government going to be more interested in promoting rail safety than in partisan dogma?

Mr. Watts

The hon. Gentleman is as wrong as his hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody), both in his figures and his assertions. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be receiving a progress report from the Health and Safety Executive on the development work being undertaken into systems to deliver some of the benefits of ATP. As I said in my reply to the hon. Lady's initial question, it is already accepted that advanced train protection will be an integral part of all new high-speed rail links, such as the channel tunnel and the west coast main line upgrade.