§ Lord Berkeleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the safety assessment procedures applied by Railtrack mean that £400 million-worth of new rolling stock is still awaiting approval, and whether these procedures can take up to two years; and what changes are proposed to these procedures.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport (Viscount Goschen)Information on the value of trains built but not yet approved by Railtrack is not held by British Rail, Railtrack or the department, as this is a matter for the vehicle owners. I understand that some of the trains awaiting safety approval are not yet ready for operational use because of other engineering reasons. The safety assessment procedures are therefore not delaying the introduction of these trains at present.
14WARailtrack has advised me that the timescales for preparation of safety cases are driven by manufacturers and operators. Where the builder has developed the safety case in parallel with vehicle design, acceptance by Railtrack has proved relatively simple. In other cases where the safety case is being developed retrospectively, timescales for production are proving long. Acceptance of a well-reasoned safety case can be achieved in weeks.
Railtrack has commissioned an independent review of the safety appraisal process for rolling stock, and will discuss this matter with vehicle builders, owners and operators shortly.