§ 8. Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what commitments he intends shall be imposed on companies undertaking rail service franchises to maintain existing intermediate stops.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe commitments will be laid out in the franchise contract. The franchisee will not be able to cease serving a station contrary to the terms of that contract.
§ Mr. BeithWhat if someone like Mr. Richard Branson has been running the east coast main line service for about a year and then comes back to the Department of Transport and says, "I'd like to try running the trains express from Edinburgh to London and miss out all the stops at Berwick, Dunbar and Alnmouth"? Will he be given permission to do that? If that venture led to the collapse of the service because of a losss of revenue due to a mistake in commercial judgment, what would happen to the communities who would lose their rail service in the meantime?
§ Mr. MacGregorI do not wish to comment on who might get the franchise, but the right hon. Gentleman will know that franchisees wishing to alter service patterns below the minimum specified—the kind of situation that the right hon. Gentleman has in mind—must give notice of that proposal to the franchising director who, after due consideration, will accept or reject the proposal. If there is a continuing demand for the service from which a franchisee might wish to withdraw, I believe that the franchising director would look very carefully at any such proposition. If there were any suggestion of the closure of a station or a service, all the normal statutory procedures which have applied in recent years would apply in the future.
§ Mr. Matthew BanksDoes my right hon. Friend agree that one of the advantages of bringing in new franchisees is that it would allow the private sector to bring forward new ideas and new products?
§ Mr. MacGregorYes, I very much agree. The whole purpose of our proposals is to improve the services for passengers, not to see them withdrawn.