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Sustainable Railways

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Nicholas. I thank the Chairman of the Transport Committee and the members of the Committee for all their work on what is generally recognised as an excellent report. Many members of the Committee have contributed to this useful debate. I welcome the Committee's recommendations and I hope that the Government will take them on board as soon as possible. Much as I acknowledge and welcome the Government's announcement today on investment in new trains, I intend none the less in the few minutes available to me to restrict my comments to the findings of the Select Committee and the Government response, although the context is slightly different from what we perhaps anticipated. One of the report's key criticisms of the White Paper is that it does not deliver what was previously promised. It is not a strategy for the next 30 years. The high level output statement covers only 2009 to 2014, and I agree with the Committee's recommendation for the Government"““to be bolder in its vision and to set out a proper long-term strategy””." As we heard, the rail network is almost full to capacity and passenger numbers are rising all the time. Surely the Minister would agree that what the Committee described as ““just-in-time investments”” is not enough. I certainly agree with the Committee's concerns that the Government are not doing enough to integrate rail policy with other policy areas. Local and national transport networks have a profound effect on local economies, communities and the environment, and we believe that consideration of the broader socio-economic benefits and the full cost of carbon should be fully integrated into the policy-making process. I was genuinely taken aback to read in the Government's response that, while they are considering the environmental performance of the existing railway, they will not develop proposals for increasing the contribution that railways can make towards improving the environment until the next high level output statement. If Britain is to play any real role in tackling climate change, let alone the lead role that we all aspire to, we need to be more ambitious and look at how rail can help move us towards a carbon-free society. I therefore would be interested to know whether the Minister has considered bringing forward the next HLOS so that the UK can be more proactive on the issue. On a more positive note, I am pleased that the Government have moved towards considering the high-speed rail option, albeit the move is seen by many as only an environmental sweetener for the plans for the third runway at Heathrow. Frankly, many of us would still say that they are not moving fast enough or with nearly enough conviction. The case for high-speed rail is clear and urgent. Some of us have been saying for a long time that it is necessary to cut journey times to Scotland and the north, to improve capacity and to encourage a modal shift from air travel in the UK. I also welcome the Committee's recommendations on capacity. With a 40 per cent. increase in passenger miles travelled by rail since 1996, this is absolutely a key issue. We need more capacity on almost all of our lines, and the Government ought to be taking drastic action to increase capacity and reduce overcrowding. I acknowledge that a step in the right direction has been taken today, but, while I welcomed the announcement, I hesitate to celebrate prematurely, as the Government have ordered only one third of the long-promised 1,300 train carriages that were announced some time ago. New carriages on some lines are a good start, but more needs to be done. Electrification, which we fully support, is key to increasing services and lowering emissions, and I am pleased that the Government are planning to electrify the Great Western and Midland Mainline services. They mentioned in their response that a review of electrification would be completed by 2008. Perhaps the Minister might confirm whether it is complete, when it will be published, and whether it will make a commitment to electrifying the entire mainline network. I would like to expand still further on many of these points, but, in fairness to other colleagues who have yet to speak, I shall restrict my remarks to those.