Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Personal Track Safety Cards Network Rail has issued to workers in (a) Network Rail, (b) Train Operating Companies including open access companies, (c) freight companies, (d) rail renewals companies and (e) agency companies in the last five years.

Personal Trackside Safety (PTS) is a competence required by those who work on or near mainline railway lines for, and on behalf of, Network Rail, which is assured through the Sentinel card scheme. My department does not hold data on the number of Sentinel cards issued, but Network Rail inform me that 26,266 of their employees had been issued cards in the last 5 years. The equivalent figure for Network Rail’s supply chain, which includes rail renewal companies and agency companies, is 67,116. The Sentinel scheme does not apply to train operating companies or freight companies, who are responsible for their own track safety training and assurance.