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Railways

My Lords, I intend to come to that point because the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, asked a similar question about our projected costs. As regards my noble friend’s other point about the heavier goods vehicles, there has been a lot of coverage on this and I think there was an article in the Times on 26 November. There are no plans to allow LHVs in the UK. The Transport Research Laboratory—one noble Lord also referred to the Heriot-Watt study—is undertaking a desk study to assess what the effects might be if LHVs were to be committed. That study was commissioned in response to a growing interest within the rail freight industry. However, I reiterate that we have no plans to allow LHVs in the UK. I am conscious of the time. I realise that I am running over but I shall comment on oil. The noble Lord, Lord Dykes, gave an interesting historical discourse and made important points about the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and freight. The opening of section two of the CTRL does not threaten its use by freight in any way; in fact it will free up more paths on those parts of the conventional network not currently used by Eurostar. We are in continued consultation on the charging regime for CTRL and that covers passenger and freight operations. There is no doubt that freight operators will continue to let us have their views and that will inform our negotiations and discussions. The noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, asked me at Question Time yesterday about the assumptions made on fuel prices that underpin the DfT forecasts. Those assumptions are set out in the UK air passenger demand and CO2 forecast November 2007 report. The forecasts are based on the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s central forecasts on oil prices. Its forecast is that oil prices will fall from $65 per barrel in 2006 to some $53 dollars per barrel in 2030, with most of the decline occurring from 2012. That is the basis on which those projections are made. Of course, there will be a wide-ranging debate and continued reflection on that and no doubt there will be considerable disagreement too, but that is the model on which we currently base our view. I shall stop now as I recognise that I have gone on for far too long. However, this has been a very helpful, enjoyable and positive debate. Noble Lords asked many questions. The noble Earl, Lord Attlee, asked me quite a few detailed questions that I have not dealt with. I shall endeavour to put my answers together in a compendium letter which I shall circulate not just to those who asked the questions but to all other noble Lords who contributed to this very useful and positive discussion on the future of our rail network.