§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 13 July,Official Report, column 423, to the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mr. Day) concerning the future of the west coast main line, what is the approximate cost of the refurbishment of (a) fixed and (b) rolling equipment necessary to bring each to standards comparable with those extant at the completion of its electrification; and what areas of increased efficiency in operation by private management he expects to yield sufficient revenue to cover the costs of purchases and refurbishment to be defrayed by the purchasing interest.
§ Mr. FreemanBritish Rail estimates that it will cost about £450 million to renew the infrastructure of the west coast main line, and about a further £350 million to replace the rolling stock.
While we hope that using a joint venture to re-equip the line will result in efficiency gains, the joint venture will not need to rely on these alone in order to remunerate its investment. Were the line to be re-equipped using public funds, Railtrack would be expected to recover its investment through access charges for the use of the line. That income from access charges would, directly or otherwise, be made available to the joint venture to remunerate its investment.