§ Mrs. WiseTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents have occurred on British Rail(a) during the past five years and (b) during the five years before that; and how many fatalities occurred during the same periods.
§ Mr. PortilloThe information is not available in the form requested. The railway inspectorate maintains accident records for the preparation of the annual report on railway safety. These records show the number of casualties but not the precise number of accidents. The numbers of accidents to trains (collisions, derailments, fires and so on) are given in the following table, together with the numbers of fatalities, since 1979 (table B). These cover all railways: the numbers for BR cannot generally be isolated without a lot of research, although it has been possible to do so for the years since the records were computerised (table C).
Table A is a summary of accidents of all types for all railways during the 10 years ended 1988. Movement accidents are those which are caused to people by moving 1094W railway vehicles which are not train accidents, for example, an accident involving a carriage door of a moving train. Non-movement accidents are those which do not involve railway vehicles. The King's Cross fire is in this category.
Table A Fatalities in all railway accidents 1979–88 Year Train accidents Movement accidents Non-movement accidents Total 1979 20 74 13 107 1980 7 52 10 69 1981 7 58 11 76 1982 11 40 6 57 1983 10 53 6 69 1984 30 41 5 76 1985 6 55 13 74 1986 27 41 4 72 1987 10 57 37 104 1 1988 40 53 5 98 1 Provisional figures.
Table B Train accidents and fatal injuries—all railways Year Accidents Fatalities 1979 1,035 20 1980 930 7 1981 1,014 7 1982 998 11 1983 1,225 10 1984 1,359 30 1985 1,240 6 1986 1,171 27 1987 1,164 10 11988 1,359 40 1 Provisional figures.
Table C Train accidents and fatal injuries—British Railways only Year Accidents Fatalities 1979 2— 2— 1980 2— 2— 1981 2— 2— 1982 2— 2— 1983 2— 2— 1984 1,329 28 1985 1,213 6 1986 1,117 27 1987 1,121 10 11988 1,287 40 1 Provisional figures. 2 Figures not available.