HC Deb 05 March 1991 vol 187 cc90-1W
Mr. Gregory

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what performance targets he set British Rail for the number of trains which arrive on time during(a) 1989 and (b) 1990; what was the performance against target; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Freeman

British Rail's current quality of service objectives were set in December 1989 by my right hon. Friend, the member for Hertsmere, to cover a three-year period from April 1990 to March 1993. BR's quality objectives for InterCity and Network SouthEast were set by the Government in October 1986 and covered the period up to the end of March 1990. Quality objectives for regional railways were first set in July 1989. The performance of each sector against their separate objectives is shown in the attached table:

British Rail performance: Punctuality
InterCity
Punctuality Objective 1989–90 1990–91
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
+/- 10 minutes 90.0 84.2 86.2

Note:

1990–91 figures for InterCity cover period 1 April 1990 to 31 December 1990.

Network SouthEast
Punctuality Objective 1989–90 1990–91
+/- 5 minutes Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
AM peak 88.0 84.1 87.5
PM peak 88.0 81.1 83.8
All day 92.0 89.6 90.5

Notes:

(1) Objectives for NSE were revised 1 April 1990 from 87.5 per cent. for AM and PM peaks and 90.0 per cent. for all day.

(2) 1990–91 figures for NSE cover period 1 April 1990 to 2 February 1991.

Regional
Punctuality Objective 1989–90 1990–91
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
Express and longer rural +/- 10 minutes 90.0 91.0 90.0
Urban and shorter rural +/- 5 minutes 90.0 90.0 89.5

Note:

1990–91 figures for Regional cover period I April 1990 to 2 February 1991.

Mr. Steinberg

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he could list the amount spent on research and development by British Rail for each year since 1979.

Mr. McLoughlin

This is a matter for British Rail. The information is not immediately available in my Department.