§ Mr. SymsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the contingency plans in the event of the Jubilee Line extension not being completed in time for the Millennium Exhibition. [66796]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonThe Government have welcomed London Transport's phased opening strategy of the Jubilee Line Extension project and their confirmation that it will open in good time for the Millennium Experience. It would, however, be irresponsible not to have in place contingency arrangements to manage problems on any of the main transport links to the Millennium site over the Millennium Year, including any failure of the Jubilee Line. I therefore asked London Underground Ltd., through my Millennium Access Co-ordination Group, to lead the production of contingency plans for this and other eventualities.
London Underground have, in association with London's other transport operators, developed plans to cover a wide-range of possible scenarios and identified an underlying command and control strategy to direct the plans should they need to be invoked. An overview of the plans has recently been presented to my group, and we will be examining the detailed proposals shortly.
474WThe next phase will be to test and validate the plans, and to implement the control measures so that they are in a
'state of readiness for implementation'by the Autumn.