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Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

moved Amendment No. 8: 8: After Clause 5, insert the following new Clause— ““Separation of infrastructure services and carriage services For subsection 14(1) of the 1996 Act substitute— ““(1) A nominated undertaker may operate the works authorised by this Part of the Act for the purpose of providing infrastructure services. (1A) A nominated undertaker may use the works authorised by this Part of this Act for the purpose of providing services for the carriage of passengers or goods. (1B) There shall be no financial link between the nominated undertakers providing services under subsections (1) and (1A).”””” The noble Lord said: We are nearly there. Amendment No. 8 is a probing amendment and is designed to encourage my noble friend to confirm that the nominated undertaker for the infrastructure manager of High Speed 1 will be totally separate—financially, corporately and in everything else—from any train operator that uses it in compliance with the current and expected EU rules and the regulations that we have been discussing at length. I am still interested in who will own Eurostar UK in future, how the sale will be made and how the sale of the infrastructure will be made. Will it be by competitive tendering, by negotiation behind closed doors or what? Is there a timescale for it? This is a tidying-up amendment. I am sure that my noble friend will be able to answer all these questions and confirm that the nominated undertaker will be separate from the train operator. I beg to move.