To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate has been made of the costs of implementing Commission Decision 2008/164/EC on the high speed rail network; and if she will make a statement. (217981)

As a result of Commission Decision 2008/164/EC, the Technical Specification for Interoperability—Persons with Reduced Mobility (‘PRM TSI’) came into force in the UK on 1 July 2008. The PRM TSI sets out accessibility standards for passenger trains and stations on both the conventional and high speed Trans-European Network.

The PRM TSI replaces very similar domestic access standards for stations and trains which had been in place for several years. We do not, therefore, expect that its implementation will have a significant impact on costs.