House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Automatic Route Setting: Railways

Thursday 30 June 2022 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

Mary Foy asked about the assessment of management and specifications of automatic route setting on railways.
Mary Foy's constituent reported safety concerns over poor data quality, management, and security since 2012.
The Department invests in design and testing for traffic management systems to ensure railway safety.

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Questions & Answers

Q1 Mary Foy Lab City of Durham

Transport

Context

Network Rail has been using automatic route setting for over three decades, but concerns have been raised about its management and specifications. A constituent named Paul Day provided extensive information to regulators regarding safety issues.

Question

What assessment has been made of the (a) management and (b) specifications of the use of automatic route setting on railways? My constituent Paul Day is a recently retired signaller who reported numerous safety concerns over poor data quality, management, and security for nearly a decade. Despite his efforts starting in 2012, these issues remain unresolved according to Network Rail's report from 2018.

Answer from Andrew Stephenson

Automatic route setting is not a safety system and cannot override interlocking, which prevents trains from colliding. The Department has invested in design and testing for traffic management systems and continues to invest heavily to ensure railway safety.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The meeting request was not addressed

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Q2 Mary Foy Lab City of Durham

Transport

Context

A constituent, Paul Day, reported safety concerns about poor data quality, management, and information security for nearly a decade. These issues were highlighted again in Network Rail's 2018 report.

Question

My constituent raised significant safety concerns over poor data quality, management, and information security on the rail network since 2012. Despite these reports being submitted to regulators, no changes have been made. Given that similar issues were identified in 2015 but remain unresolved as of 2018, can we agree that accountability is crucial? Will you meet me and my constituent to further investigate the concerns?