Railways in Parliament

Value for money

BATH MP Wera Hobhouse asked the Department for Transport for an estimate of the benefit/cost ratio for each new station built and reopened line in each of the last 10 years.

Transport Minister Huw Merriman said: “Benefit Cost Ratios (BCRs) within the economic case are only one element of decision-making on schemes and should be considered alongside the other cases in the five-case business model used in Government (strategic, economic, financial, commercial and management cases). Therefore, we do not routinely make BCRs available.

“In practice, it can take a number of years for long-term demand patterns to emerge for new stations. The DfT and bodies who promote their own schemes have a long standing and established appraisal framework to help scheme promoters forecast passenger demand of new stations and lines.

“We are continuing to monitor our framework and use evaluation to understand the impacts of schemes.”

Reducing suicides

ROMFORD MP Andrew Rosindell asked what steps the DfT is taking with companies to reduce rates of suicides and self-harm at stations.

Hugh Merriman replied: “Every rail operator is required to have a live Suicide Prevention Plan, which covers requirements such as training of public facing staff in suicide prevention, putting in place mitigation measures at stations, and promoting help seeking behaviour to vulnerable people at risk of suicide or self-harm.

“Furthermore, every operator is also required to obtain and maintain accreditation to the Safeguarding on Rail Scheme, which is assessed independently by British Transport Police (BTP). The scheme requires operators to demonstrate how they are actively supporting vulnerable people on their network.

“BTP carries out a site visit following every suspected suicide on the railway to mitigate against future loss of life at the same location, and has a dedicated Harm Reduction Team who work one-to-one with vulnerable individuals, joining up local authorities, the NHS and others to ensure the person is cared for and prevented from harming themselves on the rail network.”

East West potential

RICHARD Fuller, the North East Bedfordshire MP, asked whether the Government has established a board and working group for the purposes of realising the economic growth potential of East West Rail.

Treasury Minister Gareth Davies said: “HM Treasury has recently established an official-level East West Rail economic growth board with representatives from relevant Government departments, including the DfT.

“The board will ensure that central Government is fully joined up in its support for locally led plans to maximise the benefits of East West Rail and will co-ordinate activity accordingly.

“The Government provided £15 million of funding at

Spring Budget 2023 to support local authorities along the

East West Rail route to further progress their plans to make the most of the railway for their communities.”

See also pages 20-23.

Bashed bridges

LIFE peer Baroness Scott of Needham Market asked what steps the Government is taking to reduce the incidence of HGVs hitting railway bridges.

Transport Minister Lord Davies of Gower said: “The

DfT has invested £3 million to help create a digital road map developed by Ordnance Survey for SatNavs, which includes information on height and weight restrictions.

“In addition, the DfT works with bridge owners, including Network Rail, to raise driver awareness of, and offer advice on, avoiding low bridges. It has published a suite of documents under ‘Prevention of bridge strikes: a good practice guide’ on the Government website at www.gov.uk.”

ECML signal failures

NEWCASTLE upon Tyne Central MP Chi Onwurah wanted to know how many signalling failures occurred on the East Coast Main Line in 2021 and 2022.

Mr Merriman replied: “The average time between Service Affecting Failures on the ECML has become less frequent since 2010 and is trending downwards. I can confirm there were 312 signalling failures in 2021/22, and 247 in 2022/23.”