§ 84. Mr. Ernest Daviesasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will now state the permitted capital investment programme for 1959–60 for the British Transport Commission and the amount thereof to be allocated to the railway modernisation programme.
§ Mr. WatkinsonThe total of the British Transport Commission's investment for 1959 will be rather more than £200 million, and the Commission proposes to allocate well over £170 million of this to the railways.
§ Mr. Gowerasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will state the permitted capital investment programme for the British Transport Commission for 1959–60; and the amounts thereof to be spent on railway modernisation in England, Scotland and Wales, respectively.
§ Mr. WatkinsonThe total of the British Transport Commission's capital investment for 1959 will be rather more than £200 million and the Commission propose to allocate well over £170 million of this to the railways. The modernisation plan is designed to increase the efficiency of the railways according to the demands of traffic, and the Commission's investment programme is made up for Great Britain as a whole and not separately for England, Scotland and Wales. The Commission place orders for equipment to secure the most favourable quality, delivery and price, and it would not be practicable to distinguish the amounts likely to be expended in different parts of the country.