§ Mr. MartlewTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what were the gross revenues and gross costs of the sleeper services to Carlisle and Fort William in 1992–93 and 1993–94; and what is the estimate for 1994–95;
232W(2) pursuant to his oral statement of 8 February, to the Scottish Grant Committee, Official Report, column 2, if he will provide details of the calculations of the costs per passenger on the Fort William and Carlisle sleeper services; and what has been the passenger loading on the sleeper services for the same financial years.
Lord James-Hamilton[holding answer 22 February 1995]: Responsibility for railways throughout Great Britain rests with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport. Information on the operation of sleeper services is a matter for British Rail and the Franchising Director who have provided the following figures. The approximate gross costs, excluding the fixed element of track access charges, and gross revenues of the sleeper and night motorail services to Fort William and Carlisle are as follows:
£ million Costs Revenue Fort William 3.7 1.0 Carlisle 0.6 0.4 The figures relate to 1993–94 passenger numbers but have been uprated to 1994–95 price levels. They also reflect an assessed provision for new charging systems such as rolling stock leases. No figures are available for 1992–93 and 1994–95.
The calculations of the subsidy per passenger on the Fort William and Carlisle sleeper and motorail services noted by me in my oral statement to the Scottish Grand Committee on 8 February, were derived from the attributable subsidy—approximately £2.7 million and £200,000 for the Fort William and Carlisle services respectively—divided by the number of passengers in 1993–94.
The passenger loading figures for the sleeper services are as follows:
1992–93 1993–94 Fort William 14,600 14,600 Carlisle 6,700 5,700 No estimates are available for 1994–95.