Elaine Smith

Answer · Michael Matheson · 23 Mar 2021

Railway Safety is a matter reserved to the UK Government, and regulated by the UK Office of Rail and Road. The Scottish Government has funded the determination of the ORR for the current regulatory control period. The determination provides an increase in 21% in the funding available to Network Rail for the safe operation, maintenance and renewal of the Scottish Railway network.
Transport Scotland has not been provided with detailed information regarding particular asset inspections or impacts associated with weather related impacts as Network Rail is responsible for maintaining and renewing the rail network in Scotland, with railway safety being a reserved matter.
Following the Stonehaven rail accident on 12 August 2020 Transport Scotland received a copy of the Network Rail Interim Report in September 2020 and continues to press Network Rail in terms of improving resilience relating to climate change.

Answer · Michael Matheson · 23 Mar 2021

Railway Safety is a matter reserved to the UK Government, and regulated by the UK Office of Rail and Road. The Scottish Government has funded the determination of the ORR for the current regulatory control period. The determination provides an increase in 21% in the funding available to Network Rail for the safe operation, maintenance and renewal of the Scottish Railway network.
Network Rail is therefore responsible for the operation, maintenance and renewal work of Scotland’s rail network and it is the role of the ORR to monitor expenditure and the delivery of outputs on Scotland’s rail network. As such Transport Scotland does not hold this information.

Answer · Michael Matheson · 23 Mar 2021

The £1 billion cuts decision was taken by the UK Government for its funding of enhancements in England. This decision was taken without consultation with the Scottish Government and will therefore have no effect on current plans for protecting Network Rail infrastructure assets from weather-related impacts in Scotland.

Answer · Michael Matheson · 23 Mar 2021

Railway Safety is a matter reserved to the UK Government, and regulated by the UK Office of Rail and Road. The Scottish Government has funded the determination of the ORR for the current regulatory control period. The determination provides an increase in 21% in the funding available to Network Rail for the safe operation, maintenance and renewal of the Scottish Railway network.
Transport Scotland has no information nor has Transport Scotland been updated on the progress of the work by these two taskforces other than what is known publicly.

Answer · Michael Matheson · 23 Mar 2021

Railway Safety is a matter reserved to the UK Government, and regulated by the UK Office of Rail and Road. The Scottish Government has funded the determination of the ORR for the current regulatory control period. The determination provides an increase in 21% in the funding available to Network Rail for the safe operation, maintenance and renewal of the Scottish Railway network.
Network Rail is therefore responsible for maintaining and renewing the rail network in Scotland and as such Transport Scotland has no locus in these matters and does not hold information relating to the proportion of inspections and works undertaken in this regard.

Answer · Michael Matheson · 23 Mar 2021

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-36192 on 23 March 2021 . In addition, Transport Scotland is aware of the ongoing recovery works as a result of land slips in the Largs area which Network Rail advise are progressing well and to programme.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Answer · Michael Matheson · 23 Mar 2021

Railway Safety is a matter reserved to the UK Government, and regulated by the UK Office of Rail and Road. The Scottish Government has funded the determination of the ORR for the current regulatory control period. The determination provides an increase in 21% in the funding available to Network Rail for the safe operation, maintenance and renewal of the Scottish Railway network.
The Scottish Government did not receive any information regarding the area around the Carmont site being an area of concern prior to the derailment in August 2020.
Further detail on the accident was made public by Network Rail in their Interim Report in September 2020. A key recommendation from that Report was to establish two GB wide Task Forces to examine the implications and detail future mitigations in respect of extreme weather and management of earthworks. Both Task Forces published their findings on 17 March 2021 and the Scottish Government is considering their conclusions.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse · 23 Mar 2021

The Scottish Government has not held discussions with the UK Government regarding seafarer welfare on drill ships currently moored in the Port of Hunterston. Shipping safety and seafarer welfare are matters reserved to the UK Government.
Transport Scotland officials recently consulted with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Statutory Harbour Authority regarding a drill ship at the Port of Hunterston which had become adrift.
As a consequence of the incident, the MCA undertook General Inspections on the Ensco DS-8 vessel and on the Valaris DS-4 vessel. During these inspections, a number of deficiencies were noted and enforcement notices issued. Full and separate investigations have been completed by Clydeport as the Statutory Harbour Authority and by the ships’ management companies.
The Harbour Authority has been liaising closely with the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) and its report on the investigation has been submitted to the MAIB.
The Scottish Government expects the highest shipping safety and crew welfare standards and for these to be applied in the case of those vessels and personnel accessing our ports and coastal areas.