Written question asked by Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour) on Thursday, 11 October 2007.

Railways: Cab-based Signalling

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:What assumptions underlie the statement in the recent White Paper, Delivering a Sustainable Railway, that from the second half of the next decade cab-based signalling will be implemented on a greater proportion of the network.

Answer: In conjunction with the White Paper, the Government published a railway technical strategy. It is designed to provide a long-term technical and operational vision for the railway and explain how this can help contribute to the long-term demands identified in the White Paper. The statements about a cab-based signalling system were built on a long-term vision for command control and signalling that recognised the industry acceptance of the case for introducing the European rail traffic management system (ERTMS) in the short to medium term and as a building block that facilitated the longer term vision. The ERTMS national implementation plan (developed by the Network Rail-led cross-industry team) sets out the UK's plan and the assumptions that go with it.

Secondary information