§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 5 July 1999,Official Report, column 370, concerning the agreement signed by London Transport Underground for the future supply of power, if, under the agreement, power for London Underground will cease to be generated in London; who the owners and managers of Power PH are; to what extent the agreement transfers the responsibility for supply and distribution of electric power to appliances and live rails; what access agreements to linesides, switching equipment and sub-stations have been made with the contractors; and what transfers of personnel there will be. [94813]
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§ Mr. HillThe Power PFI contract transferred responsibility for the operation, maintenance, finance and renewal of London Underground's high voltage electrical supply network to SEEBOARD Powerlink (a consortium of companies consisting of SEEBOARD, BICC and ABB, owned in the following proportions: 80 per cent., 10 per cent., 10 per cent.). Under this contract, London Underground's power will be obtained from the National Grid. The day to day switching of electrical supplies to track and stations remains with London Underground.
Access by the contractor to linesides, switching equipment and substations is in accordance with the same procedures and conditions imposed for London Underground staff and all contractors working on the railway.
Under the terms of the Power PFI contract, the 315 London Underground staff responsible for the operation and maintenance of the generating stations at Lots Road and Greenwich, the power distribution substations and associated high voltage and control cable networks, transferred to SEEBOARD Powerlink on their existing terms and conditions of employment when the contract commenced on 16 August 1998.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many fires there have been on the London Underground in each of the last five years. [94793]
§ Mr. HillThe numbers of confirmed fire reports for the last five years are as follows
Rolling stock Trackside 1994–95 32 244 1995–96 37 347 1996–97 38 286 1997–98 58 327 1998–99 58 258 London Underground define a confirmed fire as any incident that activates a smoke alarm.
These incidents may be as seemingly trivial as a smouldering cigarette end. London Underground advise that these confirmed fires were small in nature, with little or no combustible material available that would lead to the development of a large fire. All such incidents, however small, are treated very seriously.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 5 July 1999,Official Report, column 370, concerning revenue and costs of London Underground Limited, if he will provide a breakdown of the £248 million of other costs in 1997–98 into (a) main categories of expenditure and (b) each line or interchange expenditure; and to what purposes the gross margin of £265 million has been devoted. [94814]
§ Mr. Hill(a) The breakdown of "other costs" is as follows:
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Other costs £ million Business rates 21 Operational materials and supplies 18 Train and station cleaning 20
Other costs £ million Repair costs allocated from project work 25 Marketing 4 Insurance 9 EDP costs 13 Consultancy 9 Accommodation and telephone 23 Charge from LT for finance and HR services 26 PH contract costs 31 Costs of property rental collection 7 Other costs 42 Total 248 (b) A breakdown of these figures on a line by line basis is not available. Some of the costs above are incurred centrally rather than on a line by line basis.
The gross margin of £265 million went towards total LT investment.