§ Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ What modifications have been made to road approaches to rail bridges since the accident at Great Heck on 21st February 2001.
§ Lord FilkinMy Lords, following the accident at Great Heck, the Deputy Prime Minister asked the Highways Agency to review its standards for nearside safety barriers on major roads. The report will be published very shortly. Decisions on any actions to improve safety at particular locations are best taken by the relevant highway authority and rail infrastructure provider in the light of the findings of this report.
§ Lord GreavesMy Lords, can the Minister give the reasons for the report being delayed? According to a reply on 16th July last year by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, it was originally promised for last autumn. Will he confirm that the Government regard it as completely unacceptable that railway services and lines should be put in danger because of traffic on motorways over which the railway service has no control? Can he give an assurance that, rather than arbitrary standards being applied, each particular bridge over a railway line will be looked at individually to make certain that the kind of incident which took place at Great Heck could not happen again simply because the barrier was not long enough?
§ Lord FilkinMy Lords, we do not have long to wait for the reports, which will be published by the end of February. Once we have the reports before us, we shall be able to have a fuller debate. I can confirm that the Government's commitment to security on the railways is absolute and very strong, hence the clear action taken by the Deputy Prime Minister a year ago. Under the circumstances and given the weight of the issues and the width of the two inquiries that have been under way, I do not think that we have seen a particularly slow reaction. I accept that we wish to do all that is practicable to reduce deaths in such circumstances. However, they were very unusual circumstances indeed. Therefore one would expect to see a proper risk assessment process carried out by the relevant highway authorities and rail infrastructure provider.
§ Lord BradshawMy Lords, over 1,600 accidents in which lorries hit bridges were reported over the past year. Of those. 31 were considered potentially serious. What action are the Government taking? All that has 1178 happened so far is that a map has been published by the AA and lorry drivers are allowed to put a notice in their cabs. However, no real action has been taken to prevent these potentially very serious accidents.
§ Lord FilkinMy Lords, as the noble Lord says, incidents in which lorries hit bridges are an important and serious issue, but the issue is slightly wider in scope than the Question on which we are focused today, which essentially is the risk of vehicles coming off the highway and going on to railways. Without too much wishing to trade statistics with the noble Lord, the number of vehicles driven accidentally off the highway on to the railways is relatively small. The figure is higher than we would wish but amounts to only 12 a year. Of those 12 only one incident resulted in a train hitting the vehicle. As I am sure that the reports will say, one has to keep a sense of proportion when considering what is the best and most effective action to take.
§ Viscount AstorMy Lords, is the Minister aware that his right honourable friend the Secretary of State seems to have learnt nothing from last year? Is he further aware that the spin doctor in the transport department planned to release,
less than encouraging statistics on rail safety and punctuality",tomorrow, but was prevented by Martin Sixsmith, the senior press officer of the department? Can the Minister give an assurance today that those statistics relating to safety, which is the subject of the Question on the Order Paper, will be released as a Statement given by the Minister to the House and that no further attempts will be made to bury had news?
§ Lord FilkinMy Lords, given the width of matters that could have been raised on the important issue of rail safety, I am slightly surprised that the noble Viscount has chosen this particular angle, which is essentially a very party political one. With regard to my right honourable friend in another place, I think that he knew a great deal a year ago and I am sure that, like all Members of both Houses, he is learning even more as time passes.I am delighted to say that I know nothing of the issue to which the noble Viscount has referred. I am therefore not in a position to give an answer.