Railways (Hansard, 18 March 2002)

§ Mrs. May
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what advice he has received from(a) the Strategic Rail Authority and (b) the Rail Regulator on the ownership of assets by special purpose vehicles in the rail industry. [43631]

§ Mr. Byers
[holding answer 15 March 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Mr. Jamieson), to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) on 4 February 2002, Official Report, columns 728–29W. Ownership of the assets created by special purpose vehicles is one of the matters to be resolved case by case.

§ Mrs. May
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many meetings he has had with the Rail Regulator since 5 October 2001; and on what dates those meetings took place. [43639]

§ Mr. Byers
[holding answer 15 March 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Mr. Jamieson) to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) on 11 December 2001, Official Report, column 789W.

§ Mr. Don Foster
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 28 February, ref 32696, on rail passengers, if he will list those TOCs which have been required to develop action plans and indicate the type of action plans which have been undertaken. [41246]

§ Mr. Jamieson
A list of each train operating company, and the type of action plan that they have been required to produce has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

§ Mr. Don Foster
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) if he will state the proportion of stations which have access to(a) customer information screens, (b) public address announcements and (c) help point buttons; and if he will list the stations which (i) have and (ii) do not have access to each; [40948]
(2) how much has been invested by the railway industry since 25 February 1999 on (a) security staff and (b) installation of video camera surveillance at stations and station car parks; and if he will state (i) how many and (ii) which stations and station car parks have received additional (A) security staff and (B) video surveillance over this time; [40960]
(3) how much has been invested by the railway industry between 25 February 1999 and April 2000 in passenger information systems in stations. [40959]

§ Mr. Jamieson
In the period from 1 April 1999 until September 2001, private sector capital of £155 million was secured by train operating companies, of which around £54 million was invested in stations. The detailed information is not held centrally.
21W
The National Rail Summit commitments were made by the industry and the associated data were provided by them.

§ Mr. Don Foster
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the responsibilities of his(a) Rail Delivery Directorate and (b) Railways Restructuring Directorate; if he will list the projects which are (i) under way and (ii) have been completed, in each directorate since June 2001; and if he will make a statement. [40954]

§ Mr. Jamieson
The Rail Delivery Directorate works with the Strategic Rail Authority, other railway stakeholders and other parts of government to improve the performance of today's railway and to deliver the key 10-Year Plan targets. The Railways Restructuring Directorate is working to ensure that the successor to Railtrack, and the regulatory system within which it will operate, are fit for purpose.
Both directorates support DTLR Ministers in a range of duties focused on these objectives.

§ Mr. Don Foster
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list(a) the number of staff employed in each key area of the railway industry, (b) the total requirement for staff in each key area, (c) staff shortage numbers for each key area, (d) the number of individuals (i) in training and (ii) trained for each key area and (e) the number of individuals (A) retiring and (B) leaving employment in each key area for each year since 1995. [41125]

§ Mr. Jamieson
This information is not held centrally.

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent research he has commissioned on the linkage between rail fares and demand. [41647]

§ Mr. Jamieson
The linkage between rail fares and demand was modelled for the 10-Year Plan, with the results published in the Background Analysis document. This modelling work will be reviewed and developed as part of the first review of the Plan this year, both in a rail specific context and on a multi-modal basis as part of the National Transport Model.

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the improvements to the rail network in the West Midlands outlined in the 10 year plan document. [41759]

§ Mr. Jamieson
The Strategic Rail Authority's (SRA's) Strategic Plan sets out its priorities for the short, medium and long term and includes national schemes which will benefit the West Midlands, for example, the Train Protection & Warning System, Freight Facilities Grants, Incremental Output Statements for track, signalling and stations, and Rail Passenger Partnership and Rail Performance Funds.
The West Midlands will benefit too, from enhanced services provided under the Cross Country and West Coast franchises and from proposed freight upgrades—such as Felixstowe-Nuneaton. The SRA's Plan also identifies a number of specific projects for the West Midlands including service, performance and infrastructure improvements, as well as additional rolling stock.