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Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply but I am sorry to say that it does not satisfy me. He more or less put down my noble friend as regards the extension to the high-speed line elsewhere. I do not know whether I misunderstood but I took that to mean that it would be regulated separately from the rest of the network, which was the point he was making. However, it is quite wrong to have two railway lines regulated under different regimes which are interconnected with each other. I do not think that the Minister has really grasped the point that this railway will operate in a competitive environment. In the end, the customer will decide what he will pay. The department can set whatever charges it wishes but if they are too high people will not come and people have got to make an effort to come. It is not as if there are lots of people out there who will swarm to the railway. There are people out there who are very sceptical about railways and need to be persuaded to use the service. Independent regulation will give confidence to investors in the new infrastructure, train operators and, more importantly, train operators’ customers that they are not dealing with the whimsical regulation that the Minister described, which is leading to the almost paralytic control now being exercised over rolling stock, and which has most train operators and rolling stock companies wringing their hands in despair. I am dissatisfied. The Minister needs to discuss the matter with the noble Lord, Lord Jones of Birmingham, because we are getting inconsistent messages.