§ Mr. David HowellTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what sums his Department has approved for capital expenditure by British Rail for the Network SouthEast system, excluding replacement of existing rolling stock and equipment;
(2) what sums he has authorised for investment expenditure on regional railways in 1993–94, excluding replacement of rolling stock and existing equipment but including all new facilities and expansion of the existing system.
§ Mr. Freeman[holding answers 7 July 1993]: The Government have set British Rail's external financing limit at £1,495 million for 1993–94. This should allow investment of some £1.1 billion. Priorities within that figure are for British Rail to determine, but they will include investment related to the channel tunnel which will benefit Network SouthEast infrastructure as well as international services. The estimate for investment by Network SouthEast in 1993–94 excluding rolling stock and channel tunnel preparations will amount to approximately £95 million and for Regional Railways approximately £44 million. In addition British Rail is exploring the scope for utilising private finance to enable further improvements to be made.
From next April, the responsibility for infrastructure investment will lie with Railtrack. It will take a strategic view of investment and will be charged with producing an indicative 10-year investment plan.