§ Mr. Matthew BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what reports he has received regarding failures to the(a) the signalling system and (b) passenger information system on the northern line of Merseyrail; and if he will make a statement. [35022]
§ Mr. WattsRailtrack has informed me that it has worked steadily to overcome the problems which it has experienced following the installation of the Sandhills system which controls the signalling on the Merseyrail lines. Up to three weeks ago it was achieving 95 per cent. performance targets. Since then performance has been badly affected by a combination of adverse weather and vandalism. Railtrack informs me that it and Merseyrail have kept local news media informed about the causes of the disruption to services.
Problems relating to the implementation of new software have delayed the commissioning of the new passenger information system on the northern and Wirral lines. Measures have been put in place to improve the standard of information available to passengers in the absence of passenger information displays and automatic public address systems. Railtrack expects to commission the customer information displays at the end of October and the phased renewal and commissioning of the automatic passenger announcing system by mid-December.