§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the cost per passenger carried on the London-Fort William sleeper/Motorail train would be, based only on the net costs saved by Railtrack and BR together, within the first year of its withdrawal;
(2) pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) on 20 February, Official Report, column 1, if he will set out the net costs, taking account of revenue losses, redundancy and relocation costs, expected to be saved in 1995–96 and 1996–97 by the withdrawal of the sleeper and Motorail service between London and Fort William to (a) British Rail and its subsidiaries and (b) Railtrack.
§ Mr. WattsBritish Rail expect to save about £7 million from the proposed reduction in London to Scotland sleeper and Motorail services. The saving from withdrawing the Fort William service alone is estimated at £2.6 million. These figures do not include redundancy and relocation costs, which are non-recurring costs 731W estimated at less than £300,000 for the withdrawal of the Fort William service. There are unlikely to be any savings to Railtrack.
On the basis of passengers carried in 1993–94 the cost net of revenue excluding infrastructure changes is £180 per passenger. The figures are based on British Rail's best estimate, using the 1994–95 price base.
§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what evaluation he has made of the conclusions of the Director of Rail Passenger Franchising in respect of the economy and efficiency of the London to Fort William sleeper.
§ Mr. WattsNo final conclusions have been reached by the franchising director, who has indicated his preliminary view of which services he is minded to include in the ScotRail PSR on which consultation will take place later this year.