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Kent Coast Railway Line

We could probably trade statistics for the remainder of the time allotted today. However, I think that most people who have travelled on trains in France and in the UK would find that French trains compared favourably with those in the UK, whether UK trains are more frequent or not. The substantive issue, which, indeed, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) sought to raise with the Prime Minister today, is that we have built a guaranteed fare increase year after year into the system through the retail prices index plus 1 per cent. arrangement. Since 1997, the cost of travelling by train has risen by 13 per cent. and the cost of travelling by car has fallen by roughly a similar amount. So, there has been a 13 per cent. increase in the cost of travelling by train and a 14 per cent. decrease in the cost of travelling by car.