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Railways

My Lords, that, as they say, was before my time. I welcome the fact that we appear to be forging a new consensus on rail that not only puts behind us the language of decline and past proposals for cutbacks but looks for sustained growth in the years ahead. I accept the various invitations for me to visit and to meet. I will be very glad indeed to meet the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, to discuss his ideas for improving the east coast main line. I always seek to give speakers a free rein and rarely intervene. I intervened on the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, because I thought that I had detected the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, indicating in his opening remarks that the improvement to the line could be in place of the development of a high-speed line. I was keen to understand the policy of his party, but I look forward to discussing that further when we meet. My noble friend Lord Faulkner never hesitates to invite me to visit the many extremely worthwhile projects with which he is engaged. I look forward to joining him and his colleagues in the Cotswold Line Promotion Group to celebrate the decision to redouble that line, which will significantly enhance its capacity. I will also be happy to meet him and leaders of the railway heritage sector. I join him in paying tribute to the great work that the sector does, not least for the tourism industry. One of our unique contributions to international tourism has been the restoration of closed and disused railway lines. The work of the railway heritage sector is very important indeed. I sense that the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, and I will need to go together to Victoria to see how long it takes us to buy a ticket. As I said in my opening remarks, I am keen to see what more we can do to ensure that passengers, particularly in gated stations, are able to buy tickets rapidly. I am keen to look at what further steps can be taken in that regard.