§ Mr. AdleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what standby assets are specifically allocated for contingencies by British Rail InterCity, French and German railways;
(2) if he will issue a general directive to British Rail to seek to reduce InterCity train cancellations, even if this involves a lower utilisation of capital assets;
(3) if he will tabulate the cancellation records of British Rail InterCity and the French and German railways;
(4) if he will meet the chairman of British Rail to discuss the relationship between the improved financial results on InterCity and the increase in the number of InterCity train cancellations.
§ Mr. FreemanAs part of the quality of service objectives agreed between the Government and British Rail, InterCity already has an objective to operate 99.5 per cent. of its scheduled services. The actual performance achieved in recent years is as follows:
Percentage of scheduled services 1987–88 99.5 1988–89 99.0 1989–90 98.0 1990–91 97.5 Not all cancellations are due to rolling stock problems. I understand that crew shortages, particularly in the south-east, have been a major factor in the recent decline in performance.
It is a management matter for BR to judge how much spare capacity is needed for maintenance and other contingencies. The Department does not hold information on this or on the performance of French and German railways in this area.
I have no reason to believe that there is any direct link between InterCity's financial performance and the rate of cancellations.