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London Underground

As a representative of the area served by Tube Lines, I am surprised to hear the views expressed by my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor) and, indeed, by my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs. Ellman), implying an absolute parallel between Tube Lines and Metronet. There is not. Our experience of Tube Lines' management of the Jubilee line has generally been very satisfactory. It has increased capacity and improved efficiency and performed good station updates, whereas the procurement of the Jubilee line under the traditional arrangements produced a serious cost overspend of about £1.5 billion and a much delayed introduction. I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside will give a more reasoned appraisal of the respective performances of the different PPP contractors, bearing in mind that although Metronet failed, it is not a basis for criticising the performance of Tube Lines.