§ John McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his estimate is of the reduction of incidents of signals passed at red as a result of the introduction of TPWS. [104993]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) monthly reports of signals passed at danger (SPADs) record the number of occasions each month that the Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) is successfully activated. This is broken down between `interventions' where TPWS initiates braking before any action is taken by the driver and 'activations' where the driver has already started breaking for the signal but the train is travelling too fast at the over-speed sensor or has passed the stop located at the signal at red. There will also be cases where TPWS intervenes to stop the train passing a signal at red but these will not be recorded as part of the monthly SPAD reports. Copies of the HSE reports are in the Library.
In the last 18 months there has been a 70 per cent. decrease in the most serious SPADs, although not all of this improvement is attributable to TPWS.
§ John McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents of signals passed at red have occurred as a result of drivers cancelling the TPWS system since installation. [104995]
§ Mr. JamiesonNone, as it is not possible for the driver to switch off the Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS).