HC Deb 26 January 2004 vol 417 c38W
John Thurso

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress is being made by Network Rail to establish a comprehensive asset register of the rail infrastructure; what that register includes; and when it will be completed. [149712]

Mr. McNulty

Since April 2001, when the Rail Regulator modified Railtrack's network licence to require the company to establish and maintain an asset register, the company has thoroughly reviewed the state of its asset knowledge, established the key principles of how its asset information strategy needs to improve its business planning processes and developed detailed plans to meet these business needs. Good progress is being made, and Network Rail is continuing to press ahead with the implementation of these plans.

Development of the asset register comprises a number of key elements. It is replacing many old databases with new systems that will provide access to integrated and consistent, company-wide data for the first time. In some cases, existing data systems can be maintained, but they are being overhauled to ensure that data are accurate and fully up to date.

Much of this work is highly detailed and requires a painstaking review of large volumes of data. Inevitably, this is time consuming, but good progress is being made. Some elements of the project are complete, while others, such as the new system for managing maintenance work known as MIMS1, are well developed and in the course of introduction. It is expected that MIMS will be fully implemented by April 2004.

As the asset register is being completed, new data collection and storage systems are being implemented, requiring significant changes to the culture of data management within Network Rail. Development will continue to take effect for many years, but it is expected that a fundamental milestone will be the completion of a baseline asset inventory which will contain accurate and fully up-to-date information about the key attributes of the network assets by mid-2005. 1 Mincom Information Management System—initially developed for use in the mining industry.