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Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

moved Amendment No. 1: 1: Before Clause 1, insert the following new Clause— ““Repeal of sections 16, 17 and 21 of the 1996 Act Sections 16 (licensing), 17 (access agreements) and 21 (duties as to exercise of regulatory functions) of the 1996 Act are repealed.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, when this Bill was introduced, it contained several very unsatisfactory features. These included the independent regulation of the operator and of those maintaining the infrastructure. By independent regulation, I do not mean regulation by Government. We were also concerned that there should be open access for any operator, particularly continental and freight, and that this would be accorded to them on a non-discriminatory basis. In the past couple of days, the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, and I have held meetings and discussions with officials and we hope that the Minister will now be able to give the House the reassurances that we have sought. We hope to see the Channel Tunnel rail link and Eurostar, after they have been sold off to defray taxpayers’ investment, brought as soon as possible within the scope of the Office of Rail Regulation, which has accumulated a great deal of specialist knowledge on which to base judgments about the efficiency with which the track is maintained. By ““efficiency””, I mean how efficient Network Rail—which is the contracted maintenance partner of the Channel Tunnel rail link company—is in doing its job. We hope that its pursuit of efficiency will extend to those services. We also hope that the development agreement referred to in the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 will be superseded by the concession agreement into which the Government, if this Bill passes, are about to enter. I beg to move.