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Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. With the greatest respect, it is not the hon. Lady's Adjournment debate but that of the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard). He has already given the House the benefit of his experience, which was supplemented by the hon. Member for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn). It is not acceptable that the hon. Lady's speech should run the risk of being longer than the original speech.
Ms Hodge: I take your point, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that my speech should not be longer than the original Adjournment speech. I have been keeping my eye on the clock to ensure that I stay within the timeframe and I assure you that I shall do so.
If the Government are serious about their commitment to public transport, the Minister must make a commitment to the long-term future of the line. In a letter to me of 17 May, the hon. Member for Epping Forest said that the franchising director would look at aspects of the long-term replacement of rolling stock when bids were invited for the North London Railway franchise. He assumed that they would be based on an increase in freight traffic. What is the basis of his assumption that there will be an increase in freight traffic?
The Minister for Railways and Roads (Mr. John Watts):
I thank the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard) for raising on the Floor of the House the issue of investment in the Barking-Gospel Oak line. I am
The line clearly has other supporters, such as the Gospel Oak to Barking Line Improvement Now Group--which sent the valentine cards to my hon. Friend--and London First. It is also clear that the present state of the line and the reliability of its services worry many people--a good number of whom were prompted to send about 700 valentine cards to my hon. Friend earlier this year. The cards asked for a 15-minute reliable train service every day throughout the year, with a good information system. That sounds a simple request, but the answers are more complex than the question implies.
Services on the line are provided by North London Railways. The line's infrastructure and its rolling stock are extremely old. The route is carried predominantly on viaducts and bridges--I am told that there are 467 bridges between South Tottenham and Woodgrange Park stations alone. The bridges carrying the line over the River Lea require the most urgent attention and currently a speed limit is imposed on all trains travelling over that section of track.
There are also limitations--which have been described tonight--on the line due to old signalling and the lack of intermediate signalling between South Tottenham and Woodgrange Park stations. That means that a train cannot enter that section until the preceding train has left it. The journey time over that section is 19 minutes, and the implications for train frequency are obvious.
The rolling stock comprises first generation two-car diesel multiple units that are more than 30 years old. Although the train operator has increased the number of units available to run the service in an attempt to improve reliability, cancellations occur all too frequently. Further units will become available from the West London line in the next few months, but a longer-term solution is clearly required and a number of proposals are being considered. North London Railways is discussing with rolling stock companies the possibility of using more modern refurbished units, although it is unlikely that they would be available to enter service on the line before the latter half of 1997. However, that may not be a permanent solution to the problem.
Resources have been sought through both the transport policy and programme mechanism and the European regional development fund regime. As the hon. Member for Walthamstow said, there was a successful bid in 1995-96 which contributed £200,000. It was announced when my hon. Friend visited the line on 15 December 1994. However, as the hon. Lady said, bids for TPP resources are competitive and my Department must make a judgment about which bids offer the best value for money. I am not surprised--in view of my local government background--that local authorities can propose many more good projects on which to base bids than we can afford to fund.
The London borough of Waltham Forest has also submitted bids under the ERDF regime seeking £176,500 for a bridge strengthening programme and a feasibility
study. That bid was assessed against both the overall ERDF public transport objectives and the other bids competing for resources. Although the bid was within the "acceptable" category, once again there were insufficient resources available globally to enable the bid to succeed. No further bids have been made.
The Government office for London has advised about the need for a business case or plan that will establish the line's problems and opportunities--I think that the problems are clearly understood and have been described well tonight. It is important to identify also the opportunities that will be a prerequisite for any future investment decisions. The opportunities that the line offers and its potential for connecting services to other parts of the network mentioned during the debate are a helpful start.
So much for the history of the line, but what does the future hold? I do not share Opposition Members' pessimism that privatisation has nothing to contribute--quite the contrary. I believe that privatisation of the railway offers a new future for this line and for other lines where we have successfully franchised services.
As to infrastructure, Railtrack has told us that it believes that the line offers a number of exciting opportunities for future development. Unlike British Rail before it, Railtrack is able to undertake the necessary long-term planning with confidence. Investment decisions about rail infrastructure are no longer prey to the vagaries of the annual public expenditure settlement. The financing of investment programmes has been moved from that environment into the more dynamic environment of private financial markets. Decisions can now be taken on a commercial basis to improve services. I hope that this line will benefit and, in that context, the development of a business plan for the line is important. I shall return to that point in a moment.
As for the train operators, the privatisation process through franchising will also bring benefits for railway users, not just on this line but more widely too. There is for the first time a contractually guaranteed level of train services that will guarantee the future of every line and station on the network. So I think that hon. Members will see, when the franchise is let, that the stations on the line and the continued operation of services over it will be secured contractually by the agreement into which the operator will enter with the franchising director.
The passenger service requirement, which covers areas of particular interest to passengers--the frequency of trains, the stations they serve, journey times, first and last trains and weekend services--is drawn up against the background of an unprecedented amount of consultation with the users of services, with passenger representatives, and with local authorities having an opportunity to comment on the services that they would like operators to provide.
Moreover, many franchisees have committed themselves to providing improvements beyond the specified level--for instance, their contracts with the franchising director have included commitments to provide new or enhanced services and new or refurbished rolling stock. When assessing bids for a franchise, the franchising director is instructed to take account of any offers of contractual improvements to service level or quality that go beyond the specification. Only this week there has been a successful bid for Chiltern, including new rolling stock and the
provision of security at 11 major stations. That will make passengers feel more secure, in the way that has been called for. There will be 50 secure cycle ranks at Marylebone station and 250 at other stations on the network, to facilitate rail-cycle journeys. Both on Chiltern and on LTS, new rolling stock has been provided as part of the package, and there has been a proposal for a new station at West Ham by the LTS franchisee.
The Office of Passenger Rail Franchising will shortly be developing the draft passenger service requirement for NLR. It will set out the contractual requirements for the services to be provided. It is clearly important, in following the guidance, that the PSR should be based closely on current service levels, and that the depressed level of patronage that has arisen from the reliability problems should not be taken as the base. I understand from the franchising director that the PSR will be set on the basis of an expected increase in patronage following the completion of the engineering works that currently so adversely affect the operation of this service. Consultation will then take place with the official consultees.
On 11 June, the franchising director invited applications to pre-qualify to receive an invitation to tender for this franchise. The deadline for applications is 12 July. It is expected that an ITT will be issued later this year, and that the franchise will be transferred to a private operator in the early part of 1997.
The question of investment in the line was raised early this year at a meeting of the London consultative committee chaired by my hon. Friend the Minister for Transport in London. As a result, a meeting is shortly to be held between the Government office for London, representatives of the boroughs, the ALG, London First, Railtrack and North London Railways, to discuss future funding options for the route. It is in that context that a business plan for the line becomes so necessary.
We have told the boroughs and others that both the ERDF bid and the 1996-97 TPP package bid, in highlighting the need for a feasibility study for the line, drew attention to the need to take a hard look at the economic justification for investment. Officials in the Government office will endeavour to play a full and useful part in the development of the business plan and in identifying the means by which it can be funded.
The hon. Member for Islington, North asked about the provision of facilities for cycle users. I shall make further inquiries into the matter and write to him--
Mr. Watts:
Indeed. I will also copy the letter to other hon. Members who have taken part in the debate.
I have spoken about the line's history and its current problems which reflect the low priority that has been given to this line while in the public sector. I believe that its transformation in the private sector, through the franchising process and because of the successful privatisation of Railtrack, will deliver a brighter future for the Barking to Gospel Oak line. I look forward to arranging a visit at a fairly early date, when I shall be delighted to be shown the problems facing hon. Members' constituents.
Question put and agreed to.
Adjourned accordingly at seven minutes to Eight o'clock.
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