HL Deb 21 April 1986 vol 473 cc949-50
Lord Boyd-Carpenter

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have been given any explanation by London Transport of the recent large number of breakdowns, failures and delays on the London Underground.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport (The Earl of Caithness)

My Lords, I understand from London Regional Transport that the number of incidents on the London Underground causing delay in recent months is no greater than normal in spite of the very severe weather earlier this year.

Lord Boyd-Carpenter

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. Is he aware that there is comparatively little encouragement in his statement that the delays are no more than normal? Can he tell us what London Regional Transport are doing to reduce them and the consequent real discomfort, hardship and delay to the travelling public?

The Earl of Caithness

My Lords, I agree that waiting at any station, bus, Underground or rail, is a pretty uncomfortable experience. I can tell the House and my noble friend that since 1984 the average waiting times for high-frequency services have shown no deterioration and that punctuality on timetabled services for the last quarter of 1985 showed an improvement on the previous years' figures.

Lord Underhill

My Lords, is the noble Earl the Minister aware whether this matter has been raised at all through the London Regional Passengers Committee, which would appear to me to be the appropriate body to consider it? As the last thing that we would wish to do from these Benches is to raise matters on which we are not completely certain, can his department make some inquiries on those points? If the situation is due to lack of adequate personnel or if it is due to inadequate contracting services, maybe he can refer the matter to London Regional Transport.

The Earl of Caithness

My Lords, with the improvement in the services, as the noble Lord will be aware, LRT, in their report for 1985–86, said that they had had their busiest year ever on the Underground, with passenger miles up to an all-time high. I hope that he is assured that the management is doing all it can to bring the service up to a better standard than it was.

Baroness Faithfull

My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that the line from Paddington to Westminster was bad before the war, was understandably worse during the war, and is shocking now? Can something be done about this? It makes a great difference to those of us who travel from Paddington to Westminster.

The Earl of Caithness

My Lords, I regret that I cannot recall the situation either before or during the war; but if that is a specific point I hope that my noble friend will take it up directly with London Regional Transport.