§ Mr. James Hillasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will now make a statement on future Government funding of Tracked Hovercraft Limited.
§ Mr. Michael HeseltineIn 1967 the National Research Development Corporation decided to explore the possibilities of air cushion suspension and linear induction motor propulsion for high-speed ground transport systems. For this purpose it set up a wholly owned subsidiary company, Tracked Hovercraft Limited. To date some £5 million has been spent on the project. A research374W vehicle has been successfully tested at speeds of up to 107 mph on the one-mile test track at Earith near Cambridge Studies have been pursued on subjects such as a comparative assessment of air cushion and magnetic suspensions.
From the experience gained it became apparent to NRDC by 1971 that the scale of funding required to make the project commercially viable would be well beyond NRDC's resources. Attempts to secure significant financial participation by private industry proved unsuccessful and by 1972 the Government had to decide whether to fund direct any continuation or development of the programme. As customer requirements could not be clearly identified at the present time in this or in other countries which would justify the scale of expenditure required for further development of a complete system, NRDC, after fullest consultation with the Government, has had no alternative but to reach the decision to discontinue work on the project in its present form.
However the Government intend to support certain important parts of THL's work which could be used in a number of transport system applications. The Hawker Siddeley Group was identified as being currently interested in the application of the linear motor at lower speeds, and in view of its customer interest has agreed to contribulte to a jointly funded programme with the Department of Trade and Industry, which will take into account the Department of the Environment's interest in possible applications over the whole range of speed from urban to inter-urban, whatever the form of suspension. The DOE also sees a need for exploratory work on magnetic suspension and guidance in relationship to the whole range of speed, and has agreed that British Rail should undertake this work and is currently negotiating the details. In this way it is intended that comparison between various systems can be continued, so that work could be taken forward on a bigger scale if and when the customer requirement becomes clear. The two programmes will be co-ordinated and the desirability of setting up a joint company for that purpose is being examined.
There will be opportunities for a limited number of the present staff in the new arrangements.