HC Deb 07 September 2004 vol 424 cc1146-8W
Mr. Gregory Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much public money has been spent on(a) maintaining and (b) upgrading the rail network between Belfast and the border with the Irish Republic in each of the past five years. [185114]

Mr. Spellar

Public money spent on maintaining and upgrading the rail network between Belfast and the border with the Irish Republic in each of the past five years is as follows:

Infrastructure maintenance—Cross-border line
£000
1999–2000 668
2000–01 691
2001–02 696
2002–03 720
2003–04 725
Total 3,500

This includes work carried out on the track, level crossings, bridges/embankments and buildings/stations.

£000
1999–2000 5,150
2000–01 1,175
2001–02 2,800

Upgrading cross-border line
£000
2002–03 2,552
2003–04 5,700
Total 17,377

This includes work carried out on resignalling at Lurgan, the City junction to Central relay, fencing, conversion to full barrier and the installation of CCTV at Moira and Trummery accommodatio# crossings and the upgrading of Belfast Central station.

Mr. Gregory Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much public money from Northern Ireland Departments has been spent on(a) maintaining and (b) improving the Enterprise rail service between Belfast and Dublin in each of the past five years. [185115]

Mr. Spellar

Public money spent on maintaining and improving the Enterprise rail service between Belfast and Dublin in each of the last five years is as follows:

£000
1999–2000 523
2000–01 786
2001–02 932
2002–03 1,006
2003–04 1,200
Total 4,447

Within this, around £1.9 million was spent on routine maintenance of the rolling stock and around £2.5 million on the refurbishment of Enterprise carriages. Translink classify the latter as planned maintenance.

Mr. Beggs

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to his answer of 15 July 2004,Official Report, column 1329W, on the Railway Review Group, if he will list the officials from (a) the Department for Regional Development, (b) the Department of Finance and Personnel and (c) Translink who are members of the Railway Review Group. [186305]

Mr. Spellar

Listed as follows are the officials from the Department for Regional Development, Department of Finance and Personnel, Translink and the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company who are members of Railways Review Group.

Members of Railways Review Group
Official
(a) Doreen Brown (Department for Regional Development)—

Joint Chairperson

David Sterling (Department for Regional Development)

Brian White (Department for Regional Development)

Michael Pollock (Department for Regional Development)

Garry McKenna (Department for Regional Development)

(b) Michael Brennan (Department of Finance and Personnel)
(c) Keith Moffatt (Translink)—Joint Chairperson

Jim Aiken (Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company)

Stephen Armstrong (Translink)

Clive Bradberry (Translink)

Mal McGreevy (Translink)

Mr. Beggs

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the Department of Transport's New Approach to Transport Appraisal; and whether future investment decisions relating to Northern Ireland's railways network will be considered in the light of this report. [186855]

Mr. Spellar

The New Approach to Transport Appraisal is applied to all transport projects as set out in the "Guidance on Methodology for Multi Modal Studies" and this is fully consistent with the Treasury "Green Book-Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government" which is used to inform investment decisions in Northern Ireland.