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Channel Tunnel Rail Link: Removal of Spoil
Lord Berkeley asked Her Majesty's Government:
What assurances were given by the developer of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link about removal by rail or road of spoil from the workings in the Kings Cross area. [HL180]
Lord Davies of Oldham: As far as practically possible, CTRL spoil is reused for construction purposes or disposed of along the route corridor. The spoil and waste disposal strategy to which London & Continental Railways is committed requires rail transport for movements off site where practical and convenient; if that strategy is changed, the resulting environmental impacts must be assessed as being no worse across the whole CTRL project.
Lord Berkeley asked Her Majesty's Government:
What weekly volumes of spoil from the Channel Tunnel Rail Link are planned to be removed from the Kings Cross sites by (a) rail; and (b) road, over the next three months. [HL181]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Weekly figures are not readily available. However, in December, 5,000 tonnes of spoil are due to be removed by rail and 36,000 tonnes by road. In January 2005, 36,000 tonnes are due to be removed by road and in February, 4,000 tonnes by road. The railhead closes on 10 December as it is severed by CTRL construction work, but some 910,000 tonnes of spoil have been removed this way to date. Closure of the railhead has been delayed by three months to allow the removal by rail of some 46,000 tonnes of spoil arising from the construction of the new Thameslink station box.
Railways: Level Crossings
Lord Faulkner of Worcester asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend to replace busy railway level crossings with bridges on high speed lines. [HL196]
Lord Davies of Oldham: This is an operational matter for Network Rail, as the infrastructure manager. Network Rail regularly risk assesses and looks at the needs at each particular crossing.
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Lord Faulkner of Worcester asked Her Majesty's Government:
What discussions they have had with Somerset County Council on the replacement of the level crossing at Silk Mills Lane, Taunton, with an overbridge. [HL197]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Since September officials at the Department for Transport have been in discussion with Somerset on the final appraisal of the north-west Taunton package following appoval of the compulsory purchase order for the scheme. In addition the department has received a letter from Councillor Carroll and an email from the leader of the council, both dated 8 November, which set out Somerset's position in relation to the scheme.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester asked Her Majesty's Government:
What evaluation they have carried out of the time-saving and safety benefits which would follow the replacement of the level crossing at Silk Mills Lane, Taunton, with an overbridge. [HL198]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The replacement of the level crossing at Silk Mills Lane, Taunton, with an overbridge was assessed as part of the north-west Taunton package (NWTP), which the Government announced had been given full approval to proceed on 2 December. This scheme comprises a number of elements:
A new park and ride site on the outskirts of Taunton;
Replacement of the rail level crossing with a bridge;
Various junction improvements and bus priority measures within Taunton.
The major scheme proposal was appraised using the department's new approach to appraisal (NATA) criteria. Since the NWTP was assessed as a whole rather than in its constituent parts, exact figures for the safety and time-saving benefits attributable to the proposed new bridge cannot necessarily be separated out.
Safety benefits were claimed and accepted by the Department for Transport for the scheme as a whole. The main reason given in justification of these claimed benefits is that, compared with the situation predicted without the scheme, the reduction in the number of vehicles on the local road network arising from the package of measures would reduce the road-based accident rate.
Time saving benefits associated with the scheme arise in part from the highway improvements, which include the new bridge. A considerable proportion of the total highway benefit claimed is due to the introduction of the bridge, as the bridge removes the delay caused by traffic having to wait at the level crossing.
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Network Rail: Investment
Lord Faulkner of Worcester asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the level of investment planned by Network Rail since the Office of the Rail Regulator's review; and by how much this investment is underspent. [HL199]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Network Rail's business plan shows projected total expenditure on operation, maintenance and investment on the network to be £26 billion between 2004–05 and 2008–09.
Progress on meeting the projection is a matter for Network Rail who will write to the noble Lord directly.
Vehicles: All-wheel Braking
Earl Attlee asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether proposals have been made for a European Union directive or an amendment to the Construction and Use Regulations that would prohibit the use of road vehicles without braking on all wheels. [HL233]
Lord Davies of Oldham: No such proposals have been made. Motor cars and heavy motor cars registered since 1 January 1968 are already so prohibited.
Earl Attlee asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the age of the newest vehicle, apart from agricultural and plant vehicles, that can be legally used on United Kingdom roads without all-wheel braking. [HL234]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations, motor cars and heavy motor cars first used on or after 1 January 1968, and which are not works trucks or pedestrian controlled vehicles, must be braked on all wheels. Thus the newest motor car or truck without all-wheel braking to be permitted on the public highways of the UK would have been used for the first time on 31 December 1967.
If a vehicle is propelled by steam, and if the engine is capable of being reversed, the engine is deemed to be a braking system and thus one of the two braking methods required so such a vehicle is not required to have all-wheel braking. Locomotives and motor tractors (which pull rather than carry loads) and trailers carrying abnormal indivisible loads with a combined gross vehicle weight over 150 tonnes are also not required to have all-wheel braking.
Earl Attlee asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their best estimate of the number of accidents that have been caused by vehicles not having braking on all wheels. [HL235]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Information in this format is not collected.
Earl Attlee asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have commissioned any research into accidents that may have been caused by the operation of vehicles without all-wheel braking. [HL236]
Lord Davies of Oldham: No research into all-wheel braking on motor vehicles has been commissioned, but a project is currently considering very specific issues relating to the operation of parking brakes on light trailers. In addition, braking is one of many factors considered in the course of accident investigation projects sponsored by the Department for Transport, such as the On the Spot accident study and the heavy vehicle accident study.
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