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12 Feb 2009 : Column 492WH—continued
“England and Wales have a well-developed network of strategic roads and rail links”.
However, it does not go north of the border, which to a degree reflects the focus of the report. Someone may rightly point out that other maps in the White Paper show the whole of the Great Britain and its rail services—but they would be proving my point. For example, page 61 contains a map showing inter-urban service loading levels over future years. The lines from Edinburgh to Liverpool and Manchester and Leeds do not even appear. That reflects the kind of thinking that lies, in some places, behind the report.
Page 21 of the White Paper states rightly:
“With certain exceptions...rail policy is a devolved matter in Scotland”.
“The Government believes that the issues and trends raised in this strategy have important linkages with Scotland”
“work closely with the devolved administrations”.
That is true, but there is a danger in abdicating responsibility for Great Britain-wide services, when in fact there is a UK Government responsibility in such areas. I recognise much good in the White Paper. I am very enthusiastic about this morning’s announcement, and I recognise what has been done on the west coast main line. However, we need to consider cross-border services, and services in the central belt to the central and northern England region. These are major conurbations, not just small centres of population and they need more attention in the rail strategy.
There may be a lack of focus because the two Administrations differ over the way in which they apportion responsibility for rail services. Services that run throughout Great Britain are the responsibility of the UK Government. Clearly, there must be co-operation between the Scottish and UK Governments. As someone who sees the benefits of a United Kingdom as opposed to those with a nationalist bent, I believe that we must address the issues across the UK. Will the Minister tell us how he will work with the Scottish Government to ensure that we address the UK-wide issues, the most important of which is how we can fund high-speed lines north of the border? I would have thought that because such a scheme is a UK-wide responsibility, it should be a UK-wide issue. Just as I was happy to see the funding for Crossrail provided from the UK purse, I hope that my colleagues further south will also be happy to see rail services throughout the UK also being funded from the UK purse.
3.31 pm
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North) (Lab): I welcome the debate and the discussions that we are having. Before I go into my own speech, I want to put on record the fact that many of us spent years under the previous Government opposing rail privatisation and continual rail cutbacks and closures. Since the Labour Government came into power in 1997, there has been a pro-rail strategy as a whole, which is sometimes all too easily forgotten. We should remember the miserable period of privatisation and what went on before that. This debate is important because it gives us the opportunity to look towards a better rail strategy for the future. In that sense, I welcome the work of the Select Committee and what it is trying to do.
A number of hon. Members—not from London—have spoken with great envy about investments in London. I can understand that, and I have sympathy with their position. The problem with the rail network goes back to its original development, which was essentially about building main lines from London to the rest of the UK. It was compounded by the enormous Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Essentially, Richard Beeching called for the preservation of the most viable sections of the railway, which were London, the south-east and the south coast commuter belt, and implied that the rest of the country should go hang itself. Later, scorched earth policies were developed within Departments, which included the extreme proposal to close all railways north of Birmingham, and we are still living with that. I hope that the Minister will give us some good news on the issue of major investments in essential railway hubs, such as Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle, and in overall rail developments.
I have a couple of general points concerning the overall financial strategy for the railways. As I have said, I welcome investment in the rail network. It is important and has long been needed. Essentially, we are catching up on the levels of investment that have already happened in most western European economies. Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and France have all invested far more in railways and have a far better rail system as a result. Nobody has adopted the model that we have in this country, which is one of pouring public money into the infrastructure and then franchising the rail operations out to particular companies, which then make large profits out of it. When they get into difficulties they come to us as the taxpayers’ representatives to bail them out even more. I find it utterly astonishing that after having signed up for lucrative contracts, some of those companies have the brass neck to expect the public to bail them out during an economic downturn. As my hon. Friends said, now is the time to consider having public ownership of not just Network Rail but the franchises as they come up for renewal, so that we, as the public purse, get the benefits of them and are able better to control what they do.
On 27 January, the Secretary of State was sent a letter, which was signed by all three rail unions—ASLEF, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association. The unions talked about the loss of jobs in the railways. They called for the creation of jobs through major infrastructure projects, which was mentioned in the Prime Minister’s jobs summit. The letter says:
“Against this background it is therefore astonishing that the rail industry, which is heavily dependent on taxpayers’ subsidy and based on a number of contractual relationships with Government, is being allowed to announce widespread jobs losses and is making strategic decisions which will result in further job losses. It appears that in effect the Government is subsiding redundancies in almost every sector of the rail industry.”
The letter then outlines a number of concerns. It says that
“in the name of efficiency savings Network Rail are cutting the frequency of track inspections and routine signals maintenance.”
The unions said that they were deeply concerned with the reduction in renewals work and the cumulative effect that that would have. They said:
“We fear conditions are being created which could lead to another Hatfield, Potters Bar or Grayrigg.”
They then ask why, if they are putting all this public money into the railway system, they are not getting a return on it.
Then there is the issue of the large increases in rail fares. The companies that are increasing fares to raise money for investment are also turning in quite astonishing profits. For example, Arriva’s operating profit in the six months to June 2008 was £14.8 million, and its interim dividend was up 10 per cent. FirstGroup’s profit in the six months up to September 2008 was £48 million, and its interim dividend was up 10 per cent., in which it paid out £55 million in dividends. Go-Ahead Group’s operating profits in the 12 months to June 2008 was £77 million, and £48 million was paid out in dividends. National Express turned in £28 million profits in six months and paid out £40 million in dividends. Stagecoach turned in £31 million in profit and a 33 per cent. increase in dividends and £29 million was paid out in equity dividend at the time. Those are serious issues. If the rail companies are to be allowed to get away with putting up their fares to this level, we should be in a position to control what they do and the level of profit that they pay out, which is clearly not going into investment.
Stephen Hammond: The hon. Gentleman has read out the companies’ operating profits and dividends. Will he tell us which franchises get a direct subsidy from the Government for operating? Does he not accept that the bulk of the subsidy from the Government goes into Network Rail?
Jeremy Corbyn: The bulk of the subsidy obviously goes into Network Rail, and a number of the franchisees get direct subsidies for particular services at particular times. My concern is that we are putting in a vast amount of public money for which we are not getting the best return.
Mr. Martlew: Is not the point that has been made spurious, to the extent that if the money did not go into Network Rail, the Government would charge the companies a lot more for running on the track?
Jeremy Corbyn:
My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. He is thinking of the enormous public investment that has gone into west coast main line and east coast main line and all the other infrastructure developments. That should be seen not as dead money but a good investment in creating both jobs and work and a good transport infrastructure. If such transport infrastructures then
run profitably, the public should benefit from the profit, which is the whole issue about public investment and public development.
The report mentions the new north-south high speed line, which I strongly support. Although it will require a huge amount of investment, it should not stop in the midlands; it needs to go much further and include a link to Scotland because that will help to improve rail links throughout the country. I also want the Minister to address the issue of the reopening of various lines. The Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly have a very good record of successfully reopening a number of branch lines, such as Bathgate and part of the Waverley line in Scotland and a number of links in south Wales. They are very welcome, and well done to them for doing it. In most cases, they have been successful. When campaigns in England to preserve and reopen lines have been successful, the lines have by and large been very profitable and brought a lot more people into rail usage. I remember the great campaigns to prevent the closure of lines in England that eventually became successful.
However, some short bits of line could be reopened to improve east-west freight and passenger usage, and thereby the development of an east-west corridor. Railfuture mounted a campaign for the reopening of various sections of the east-west line to provide a good link from the east coast to Oxford, and from there to the west country. That mainly requires the reopening of the disused Bletchley to Bicester link, which would not be particularly expensive. The track bed is there and, indeed, the line has never been closed. I hope that the Minister tells us that the idea is further forward and that there is a plan to develop an east-west link, and that he will not simply say that he is looking at the potential of another business case. Reopening the line will help to bypass London, improve cross-country rail links, and take a lot more freight off the roads and on to the railways where it ought to be. It would not be particularly difficult, and I hope that we get some good news about it.
I am a bit nervous about raising the issue of London’s railway systems in this company, but I am prepared to be bold on this occasion. There seems to be some difficulties in the relationship between Network Rail and Transport for London on the development of London Overground. In some cases, much needed investment does not happen because it is not clear who is ultimately responsible for it. I hope the Minister will give us some good news on that.
On the operation of the franchise companies, First Capital Connect, which essentially runs commuter services in and out of London, has just announced that it is going to close a lot of ticket offices and take staff out of stations. It will cut opening hours altogether at 47 ticket offices and, according to the TSSA, reduce opening time by 500 hours between Monday and Friday. That means that my constituents who use Finsbury Park or Drayton Park stations, for example, will find that there is a shortage of ticket sellers—presumably, there will be less inspection too—so they will be totally reliant on machinery to buy tickets, and to enter and leave the station. Consequently, they will confront the very serious safety issue of unstaffed stations, particularly in the evenings. I recognise that staffing stations incurs a cost, but there are two very big costs incurred by not staffing stations: first, increased crime; secondly, fewer people will use the trains because they do not feel safe on them.
Stephen Hammond: I absolutely support what the hon. Gentleman is saying because I have exactly the same problem in my constituency. It might surprise him to hear that I was due to have my photo taken with TSSA officials last week at Haydons Road station because of the closing times there. I am sure that many people, including my constituents, welcomed Lord Adonis’s intervention to stop South West Trains closing station ticket offices, but I am afraid that using the same criterion could be Trojan horse for more closures. Apparently, the criterion that has been given to South West Trains is that ticket offices must have more than 12 transactions per hour or he will allow them to close later in the year.
Jeremy Corbyn: I agree with the hon. Gentleman on that and hope that he can sign early-day motion 580 on First Capital Connect. Clearly, there needs to be a lot of pressure from constituency MPs on the company to protect those jobs and the safety of those stations. The loss of the staff positions and the associated danger is very serious.
I hope that First Capital Connect will also be more imaginative about station development. I have just received a letter from the company about the future of Drayton Park station. The station is almost within the curtilage of the Emirates stadium in my constituency but, apparently, there is no rational business case for the development of the station. It is closed on match days to ensure that no one can use it, which many people find slightly absurd, to put it mildly. The company needs a bit more imagination in its operations and how it wishes to develop its interests.
I shall make my final two points briefly because other hon. Members want to contribute to the debate. The first point is on the development and electrification of London Overground. Network Rail has just announced that it is putting £326 million into the upgrading of London Overground—I received a letter from the company yesterday. London Overground essentially runs services as an arm of TfL. I will welcome the improvements in the services, tracks, points and signalling and all that goes with it, and the development of a truly integrated transport system around London. However, I hope that the Minister will give me some good news on the electrification of the Barking to Gospel Oak section of the north London line, which I raised in an early-day motion and in meetings with him. That would mean that the trains could use the rest of the north London line, and make it possible to use the track as a freight bypass route. Freight bypass traffic cannot use that section of the line without changing locomotives from electric to diesel at either end of the section. That is a very inefficient way of running the railway. Investment in the electrification of that stretch of line would have enormous benefits. If the Minister cannot give me some good news on that today, I hope that he will write to me in future about it.
My second point is a constituency point, but it says something about the integration of transport in London. Various hon. Members have unkindly said that there could not be a dirty station in London because it would get sorted out straight away. Sadly, that argument simply does not apply: I live in Finsbury Park, and I use Finsbury Park station almost every day, and it is a mess. It is badly laid out and designed. It has been the subject of competing interests between bus companies, Railtrack,
Network Rail, several rail franchises, TfL and London Underground. Nobody can agree what to do. Every time we get three ducks in a row, one falls off and another appears, so we never get agreement on undertaking the necessary overall improvements.
Sadly, one of the first things that the new Mayor of London did was to cancel the previous Mayor’s plan to introduce step-free access for the whole station, which I think is outrageous. The station needs a full refurbishment. It needs lift access between the underground, street and main line levels. That would improve things and make the station safer. Plans have been developed endlessly, and some in TfL have worked very hard on them. I would be grateful if the Minister intervened. He could hand the whole station over to TfL to manage, administer and develop rather than endure the endless, futile argument between Network Rail and TfL, and make the station as decent and safe as it ought to be. It is a very busy suburban interchange station. We need to show that we are capable of running an effective integrated transport system in this country.
We have the potential for a brilliant rail system in this country. It needs investment, not for money to be taken out of it by franchise operations. That money should be invested in better services and better conditions on our railways.
3.48 pm
Ms Angela C. Smith (Sheffield, Hillsborough) (Lab): My background in further education taught me that it is always better to start with the positives before moving on to the negatives. It has to be acknowledged that the Labour Government have invested quite heavily in Sheffield’s railway station. We now have one of the most wonderful station forecourts in the country, there are wonderful new public spaces in front of the station, and the old Victorian structures have been restored.
Every Sheffield MP is delighted that the city is potentially one of the three places where new trains will be built. Not many people realise that Sheffield has a grand history of producing railway components.My great-grandfather worked at Steel, Peech and Tozer, which specialised in railway components, as well as on the building of the great Bolivian railway during the first world war. We might reconnect with our great historical past if we win the contract and the right to build the new trains. Everybody in Sheffield is excited about that.
However, there are negatives to our current situation. I have three points to make in reference to the report. First, the ambition in the White Paper is far too modest, although I acknowledge that things might have moved on since then, and I would like to explore the matter further. Secondly, I would like to respond to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Blackley (Graham Stringer) that, far too often, we are seen to respond to demand with just-in-time investments, ignoring the potential of new investment to reduce regional disparities.
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