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Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

My Lords, at two pages, the Bill looks very innocuous and—with the help of the Explanatory Notes—simple, straightforward and an aid to the sale of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, or High Speed 1. There is the restriction on the removal of obstructions to the high-price sale, as well as several clarifications about future conditions on the lines and the role of the Office of Rail Regulation. Ultimately, I need to ask if the Bill will lead to the best sale possible. I suspect that that does not mean the highest price but the best use of the railway in the future and the greatest advance in rail-for-air substitution. I hope the Minister will confirm that the aim of the sale is to ensure that High Speed 1—and, by implication, the Channel Tunnel—is used by a dramatic increase in all types of trains; that is, Eurostar, the Kent high-speed Hitachi Javelin commuter trains, other open access operators, freight trains and other international train operators, including Deutsche Bahn. The track access charge must be lower and the financial gearing must therefore not be too high, thereby diverting track access money to repay interest charges and thus not keeping the infrastructure in tip-top order. I suspect that the decision to keep High Speed 1 out of the Network Rail network is correct, to enable more European trains to use it. Buried on page 2 of the Explanatory Notes is the use of High Speed 1 as the new name for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. That implies more than one high-speed line; to have called it ““the high-speed line”” would not have done so. The new high-speed network must be announced soon to give hope to those who live in the north, Scotland, Wales and the west who have contributed taxes towards it, a point that has been well made before. I am pleased that National Express East Coast, among others, is now offering through fares to Lille, Paris and Brussels; for example, Edinburgh to Paris costs £89. However, passengers still have to hump their bags over to St Pancras from Kings Cross. I ask the Government to announce the commitment to develop such a high-speed network very soon. In his remarks, the Minister reminded us that this railway was built on time and on budget. That is very good, and it contrasts rather well with the railway at the foot of my garden that proved to have rather more historic and uncharted mine workings underneath it than had been previously expected. That had a substantial effect on the budget of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway. I was interested to hear that the rail sale is likely to be in 2009. The question is the definition of best value. The noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, also saw how important it is to maximise the use of the line, stressing the need for Stratford International station. He also raised an interesting query about the opportunity for services from the ordinary Network Rail network to access the Channel Tunnel. I look forward to an answer to that, because services from other parts of Kent in particular might find that convenient. My noble friend Lord Bradshaw asked how wide the range of purchasers might be, whether the track access charge will remain at around £2,000 per train, who would regulate it and within which jurisdiction. Answering that may be quite difficult. We on these Benches and, I suspect, elsewhere will watch with interest whether the outcome of the legislation will be a high-speed railway that is very well used or one which it is very expensive to operate. If it proves to be the latter, it will be a grave mistake from the perspective of both the public and the environment. People need to travel and to trade. The less of the earth’s resources that are used up in doing so, so much the better. I look forward to Grand Committee.