HC Deb 22 June 1953 vol 516 cc101-2W
6. Mr. Woodburn

asked the Minister of Transport the total capital railway works programme he has approved for Scotland for 1954 and 1955; what proportion the amount is of the total United Kingdom programme; and what progress is to be made with the Inglis proposals for the reorganisation of rail and other transport in the Clyde area.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

The British Transport Commission's total capital expenditure on railway works is limited by the allocation of capital investment which the Government makes to the Commission in common with all other sectors of the economy. No such allocation for 1955 has yet been made.

It is not possible for the Commission to apportion in advance their allocation of capital for 1954, or for any year, between the Scottish Region and other Regions of British Railways, because the authorisation of the various programmes and works projects, including as they do permanent way renewals, rolling stock construction, signalling alterations and additions, new plant and machinery, new building and civil engineering works, is a continuing process and is not yet complete for many of the headings under which expenditure will be incurred in 1954. It is not therefore possible to give the right hon. Member the information for which he has asked, but for the major works in Scotland for which the Commission have already approved expenditure in 1954, I would refer him to the answer which I gave to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ellis Smith) on 18th May.

With regard to the Inglis Report, a Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Ian Bolton has been set up to investigate as a matter of urgency the possibility of closer working arrangements between the railways, the Scottish omnibuses and Glasgow Corporation transport.

The Commission have asked the Railway Executive to consider and report on the possibility of making progress in the near future with the main recommendations of the Inglis Report, i.e., the railway electrification and reconstruction schemes. The Commission have also asked the Railway Executive to prepare a scheme for the introduction of a service of multiple-unit diesel train sets to operate between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Other recommendations of the Inglis Report are still under consideration.