London Underground: Escalator Maintenance (Hansard, 17 July 1989)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport (Lord Brabazon of Tara)
No, my Lords. It is the responsibility of London Regional Transport to appoint the board members of London Underground Ltd.

§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, I thank my noble friend, and I am grateful for that not very helpful reply. Is he sufficiently on speaking terms with London Undergound to impress on it the immense hardship caused to members of the travelling public, in particular the disabled and those with baggage or children, by the fact that many of the escalators remain unrepaired for many weeks? Will he, as a Minister in the Department of Transport, do something about that?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, certainly I shall make it my business to be on speaking terms with the appropriate people at London Underground in order to pass on my noble friend's remarks and those which, no doubt, I shall hear from others this afternoon. London Undergound has the responsibility for the efficient functioning of the system. It appreciates that the present situation is unsatisfactory and aims to improve the escalator availability as soon as possible. Inevitably it will take some months.

§ Lord Jay
My Lords, is the Minister aware that one engineer alone will not solve the trouble, which is due to a general shortage of escalator maintenance staff, caused by excessive cost cutting to meet the Government's financial targets?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, that is quite untrue. Investment in the Underground at the moment is at record levels, approaching £300 million this year. Of that sum, about £10 million is for the replacement and modernisation of escalators. In addition, the Underground has a continuing repair and maintenance programme.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, can the Minister give us any recent indication of how many escalators are out of service in the central zone of London on any given day.

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I can indicate that in the most recent four-week period for which I have details, namely, 30th April to 27th May, there was 70 per cent. availability of escalators. That is a slight improvement on the preceding four weeks. LRT's annual business plan commits it to improving the availability of escalators to 85 per cent. by the end of next year. There are 275 escalators on the system.

§ Lord Nugent of Guildford
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that this Question has been asked several times in this House in the past year or so? Is he aware that it is right that we should look to Ministers who appoint the top management of London Transport to ensure that the standard is maintained at a reasonable level? Since so much has been done to improve it, is it not a great pity that this essential aspect of the escalators should not be properly attended to? Would he make a point of asking top management to give a greater priority to it?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, as I have said, the London Underground management is well aware of the problems. There are 275 escalators on the Underground system. The Underground is accelerating the rate of replacement from six to between eight and 11 machines a year. The Fennell recommendations caused 74 of the escalators to be out of service for between three and four weeks for the removal of wood. Another 85 escalators will need to have their polymer treads replaced. Each escalator will need to be taken out of service for up to a week for mechanical cleaning. That work is part of the implementation of the recommendations made by the Fennell Report.

§ Lord Bottomley
My Lords, will the Minister draw the attention of London Undergound to the continual breakdown of escalators on the Victoria line? Will he please urge it to do something about it?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, as I have said, I shall relay the message from your Lordships' House to the appropriate people in London Underground. I repeat, they are conscious of the problems but there is a large amount of work that needs to be done.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, does the Minister appreciate from the questions asked throughout the House that there is great anxiety about the matter? As the noble Lord, Lord Nugent, mentioned, the issue has been raised on a number of occasions. Is the problem due to a shortage of trained engineers? If so, is it not possible for London Regional Transport to speed up the programme that he said would not be completed until the end of next year? That is far too long a period. Could LRT not engage unemployed engineers, working under the supervision of trained engineers in order to speed up this work?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I am not certain of the availability of unemployed engineers in the London area. Maintenance of escalators is progressively being put out to competitive tender. The Underground is encouraging competition in the supply and installation of new machines to reduce costs and time scales.

Lord Morris
My Lords, when reporting back as a result of this Question and the answers given, will my noble friend bear the following it mind? One of the most irritating aspects of the problem is that, despite the fact that so many escalators are seen to be out of order, one very rarely sees anybody working on them.

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I agree that that is a point which needs to be addressed. All 275 of the escalators of London Transport are having automatic sprinkling systems installed underneath them. That programme is due for completion by 31st December 1990. It could be that that work is going on underneath the escalators which would not be apparent to those above.

§ Lord Leatherland
My Lords, does the Minister consider that it would be a good idea to appoint some representation of passengers to the board?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I understand that passengers have their own means of representation. I should point out that three of the directors of London Underground Board are qualified engineers, not necessarily specifically in escalators but certainly in transport-related engineering.

§ Lord Leatherland
My Lords, I am not talking about engineers or people with engineering qualifications. I am talking about passengers ordinaires.

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I appreciate that; but it is the engineers who are more likely than the passengers to solve the problem of the escalators.

§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, will my noble friend make it clear—as his earlier answers did not—that as a Minister in the Ministry of Transport he is not satisfied with only 70 per cent. availability of this essential part of the London transport system?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, that is why London Regional Transport, in responding to the targets set by the department, has committed itself to improving the level of availability to 85 per cent. by the end of next year.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, does the Minister accept that the situation is not a result of the Fennell Report? It is a result of incompetence of management on the London Underground.

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, to some extent I dispute that. I have outlined the various things that have had to be done as a result of the Fennell Report. All 275 escalators have had to have sprinkler systems 567 fitted to them. The rate of replacement is being increased. Seventy-four escalators have had to be taken out of service for removal of wood. A further 85 have had to be taken out for the replacement of polymer treads. Those are all the result of the Fennell Report recommendations.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, the noble Lord will remember that the Fennell Report was a result of a serious fire which was a result of incompetent management.

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, that is as may be, but these recommendations have resulted in a substantial programme of work to the escalator system.

§ Lord Kennet
My Lords, will the Government set the board a target for when 98 per cent. availability should be reached?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I hope that that target will be reached once the various essential maintenance works have been carried out.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, will the noble Lord take notice of the very important point made by the noble Lord, Lord Morris? Ordinary people notice these things. I receive letters on the subject. Notices state that the escalators will be out of order—so somebody has found that out. It then takes a few months before anyone comes to make sure that it is out of order, but at least it is then stopped immediately. If we can have similar immediate action on the repair of escalators, we shall be making progress. Will the Minister be good enough to consider the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Morris?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I shall certainly pass that point on.