HC Deb 01 February 1993 vol 218 cc4-5W
Mr. Mackinlay

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whom he proposes shall be authorised to instigate diversionary routes, and the alteration of operators' timetables as train paths, where a train failure, crash or repair work impedes a particular route, following the vesting day of Railtrack;

(2) who would be authorised to provide the appropriate staff when it becomes necessary for emergency hand signalling to be instituted, following the vesting day of Railtrack;

(3) which body shall be responsible for managing the flow of train services around a train failure, following the vesting day of Railtrack;

(4) whose responsibility it will be to remove debris and clear and restore the track and site when an operator's train has damaged or destroyed track or equipment, following the vesting day of Railtrack;

(5) if the franchising authority would prepare the national timetabling through an iterative process; and by what criteria or basis the route which is first on the graph would be determined;

(6) which body shall be responsible for organising repair, line clearance and restoration of equipment when more than one train operator was involved in an incident which resulted in the route or train path being blocked, following the vesting day of Railtrack;

(7) which body would determine priority services and re-write the timetables of the various operators on those occasions when an engineering possession has been made to a section of track over which more than one franchise or operator of a service exists;

(8) whose responsibility it will be, following the vesting day of Railtrack, to minimise delay in clearing the track following a train failure; and who will be expected to provide the rescue locomotive.

Mr. Freeman

Railtrack would have the lead responsibility for these matters, subject to the legislation currently before Parliament.