Hansard

I have taken an interest in this subject since I was a district councillor in Dingwall, where there are three open level crossings, where there have been accidents, which were investigated by the complex network to which Willie Coffey alluded. He is to be congratulated whole-heartedly on bringing this debate to Parliament in an attempt to simplify the means of finding a clear line of responsibility to meet Scottish conditions. It is obvious from his evidence that the regulatory bodies did not take seriously the Cullen inquiry and that FAIs in Scotland must be central to the way in which we address the matter. Transparent records and responses are needed. An FAI can provide those and may follow them up. I would like to know, for example, what effect Network Rail's placing of cameras at the Dingwall crossings has had on driver behaviour. I could ask many other questions, but that is important to know.

It is also necessary to ask questions of Network Rail. It provided us with a briefing that says that it spends more than £80 million improving the safety of level crossings each year. How much of that £80 million is spent on the most vulnerable crossings? In addition, we need to know how much of the millions of pounds that Network Rail claims it spends on maintenance and renewal programmes is spent on the most vulnerable crossings.

There are problems for drivers and rail passengers. In particular, train drivers are often traumatised because of an accident in which a car, bus or lorry hits a train. They take that with them throughout their lives, which is why ASLEF instituted a voluntary code for drivers to slow down over crossings such as the one at Halkirk. That raises the question of the length of the journey that rail passengers have to take. The journey between Wick and Inverness is already at least four hours long, and it is essential that the voluntary slow-down does not become permanent; it is an initial response to show that train drivers are trying to help. At the same time, rail passengers are further disadvantaged by such incidents. That needs to be considered carefully, because fewer passengers will use the rail service if it remains so slow.

We need to seek a safe environment for rail and road users alike. Network Rail must do much more than it has done. It says that it seeks to develop, in the plans that run alongside last year's media campaign,

"solutions which could lead to the replacement of some crossings".

It must start in the north of Scotland and it must start this year.

The case is strong and I welcome the debate. However, I wish to be excused from the debate, as I need to catch a train.