§ Mr. Gummerasked the Minister of Transport (1) if he will make a study of the annual savings that would accrue to British Railways if the train kilometres per member of staff could be increased to 4,131;
(2) if he will make a study of the annual savings that would accrue to British Railways if the passenger kilometres plus tonne kilometres per member of staff rose to 423 and to 474, respectively.
§ Mr. FowlerAs my hon. Friend knows, I regard improvements in productivity as essential to increasing efficiency on the railways. I am therefore pleased to note the Railways Board's proposals on manpower productivity in its corporate plan which it published on 15 December. I shall be discussing these with the chairman.
I do not believe, however, that there would be advantage in commissioning separate studies based on performance figures of other railway undertakings whose circumstances and characteristics differ widely from those of British Rail.