§ Mr. Thurnhamasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will ask the Railway Inspectorate to report on the effectiveness of the safety devices on the three light signal system.
§ Mr. David MitchellThere are a number of safety devices associated with colour-light signals. They include such things as the replacement of the previous signal to Danger if a lamp bulb should fail, and the automatic warning system. The effectiveness of these safety devices is commented on, where appropriate, in the Railway Inspectorate's published accident reports. Their relevance to recent accidents will be covered in the inquiry reports, so there would be no particular gain from a separate study or report.
§ Mr. Thurnhamasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the number of rail accidents involving passenger trains during 1982, 1983 and 1984 showing how many deaths resulted; what were the causes of these accidents; and whether he is satisfied with the measures being taken to reduce rail accidents.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe numbers of significant passenger train accidents on all railways in Great Britain during 1982, 1983 and 1984 are shown in the table. Significant accidents, as defined in the Department's published Annual Report on Railway Safety, are those which are actually or potentially hazardous to passengers. They include all derailments and most collisions but exclude minor incidents: details of the latter are given in the annual reports. Separate causes of all the accidents in the table cannot be readily shown, but in general about half are caused by errors and omissions on the part of railway staff, a third by mechanical defects, and the remainder by a variety or combination of causes.
Significant Passenger Train Accidents Year Number of Accidents Fatalities Passenger Journeys (Millions) Passenger Staff 1982 66 Nil 2 1,126 1983 78 2 Nil 1,260 1984* 62 17 2 1,220 * In the case of the number of accidents the 1984 figures are provisional, based on accident returns made up to 5 December 1984. Thirteen of the passenger fatalities occurred in one accident (Polmont). In the case of passenger journeys, the 1984 figure is estimated for the whole year. Measures to reduce accidents are the responsibility of the railway authorities. The Railway Inspectorate monitors all aspects of railway safety and reports regularly on the 310W safety situation — in its annual report and in the published reports on individual accidents. These reports show that, overall, the railways have been becoming progressively safer during the past decade.