HC Deb 11 January 1989 vol 144 cc669-70W
Mr. McLoughlin

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any plans to authorise additional investment in British Rail's provincial sector to relieve overcrowding and to modernise the service.

Mr. Portillo

I have today authorised the purchase by British Rail of 138 Sprinter express vehicles at a cost of £54 million. The first of these vehicles should be entering service by early 1991. These vehicles will improve travelling conditions for passengers who travel on provincial express services and will allow more passengers to enjoy shorter journey times and in more comfort. They will be used to alleviate overcrowding on increasingly popular long distance services such as the north trans-Pennine and north-west to East Anglia. Passengers on other lines will also benefit. Extending the Sprinter express network will enable BR to re-deploy Sprinters to replace the 30-year-old vehicles still running on local Manchester and Birmingham services. As well as improving these services for passengers, they will run more cost-effectively, thereby also benefiting the ratepayer and taxpayer.

I understand that BR will be placing the order with BREL and the work is expected to be carried out at BREL's engineering works at Derby.