§ Lord Mountevansasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they expect to decide the full programme for franchising British Rail's passenger services.
The Earl of CaithnessWe have today published plans for the restructuring of BR's passenger network into 25 businesses which will be the basis for franchises to be offered to the private sector. Included in this are some parts of the network which will be further reviewed to decide on the grouping of services for franchising: the Central Region of Regional Railways and InterCity Cross Country and Regional Railways long-distance inter-urban services. Copies of the full list of service groupings and illustrative maps of them have been placed in the Library.