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Railways

My Lords, I do not have that detail but I will write, as I will have to on a number of the issues today. I appreciate the point the noble Lord has made. I had already made a careful note of it in my notes, and we will try to come to that in correspondence. The Secretary of State has also specified an increase in reliability, which has been one of the hallmarks of our recent success, from 88 per cent to 92.6 per cent in 2014, and a further 25 per cent reduction in delays of more than 30 minutes. It is important to tackle both those issues. The new InterCity Express programme vehicles will be introduced in addition to the 1,300 new carriages identified in the White Paper. The IEP will create a new design of train that will be lighter and more environmentally friendly than current long-distance trains. They will also be longer and capable of carrying significantly more passengers than current stock. This is a flexible train that can be deployed on different lines in different lengths and with different sources of power. We aim to award the contract to the successful bidder in the winter of 2008-09. In planning future passenger services we need to ensure that the needs of freight are properly taken into account. We are investing £200 million in a strategic freight network that will help to reduce congestion on our roads. The Government see the productivity element of the transport innovation fund as a potential funding stream to enhance the network. It also represents the first steps towards the development of a strategic freight network. Some passengers are concerned about possible fare increases—we have heard comments on that in today’s debate. Now that industry costs are under better control, our aim is to return the balance of taxpayer funding to historic levels. In the past six years, the amount invested in rail has risen. However, nearly all of that increase has been met by taxpayers. Our objective is to restore the balance. Under the franchise system, nearly 300 million more passengers a year use the trains. The revenue earned by franchise operators is paying for the capacity to accommodate the 180 million more passengers a year that we are expecting by 2014. We are delivering record numbers of new passengers and delivering the investment necessary to accommodate them. Our emphasis on increasing capacity means that we can make a start on tackling some of the worst overcrowding. More than half of all rail journeys are on regulated fares, which we are continuing to protect at RPI plus 1 per cent up to 2014. Regulated fares are still on average 2 per cent lower in real terms than they were in 1996. They compare well with the cost of using a car if all motoring costs, and not just the cost of fuel, are taken fully into account. Other fares, as noble Lords will know, are unregulated and can be set at operators’ discretion. That does not mean that operators can simply increase fares as they wish, because they have to compete with cars, coaches and airlines. We want to see operators pricing people back on to trains and making train travel more affordable. In this way, we will maximise the benefit of the rail network to passengers, as well as reduce road congestion and help the environment. If fares rise, it is because they are helping to pay for new carriages, more frequent trains, improved stations and refurbished tracks.