Mr. EDEasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport if he can give the approximate date by which the Tooting Junction line will be electrified; whether he is aware that this line was formerly jointly operated by the 307W London and South Western Railway Company and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company, and that the proposal to include it in the South Eastern and Chatham Railway system of the Southern Railway is not in accordance with local desires; whether the electrification scheme includes the establishment of a new station or halt at Streatham Road, as has been frequently requested; and whether, pending electrification, it is possible to reopen this line by employing steam haulage?
§ Colonel ASHLEYAs regards the first part of this question, I cannot give an approximate date by which the Tooting Junction line may be electrified, and I can only refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on the 20th March. As regards the second part, I am aware that the line was formerly operated jointly by the London and South Western and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Companies, but I would point out that the lines of those companies and of the South Eastern and Chatham Company now form part of the same undertaking. As regards the third and fourth parts, I am informed by the Southern Railway Company that the suggestion that a new station should be established at Streatham Road will be considered in connection with the electrification scheme, and that it is not intended to reopen this line by employing steam haulage.