§ Mr. DunnTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what role he envisages for the passenger transport authorities and passenger transport executives in the process of specifying and granting franchises for passenger railway services in their areas under the railway privatisation proposals; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FreemanI have today written to Councillor Joe Clark, chairman of the Association of Municipal Authorities public transport committee, setting out the role we envisage for the passenger transport authorities and passenger transport executives under our railway privatisation proposals, in the following terms:
Letter from Mr. Roger Freeman to Councillor Joe Clarke: 582W
It is our intention that under our railway privatisation proposals the PTAs and PTEs will continue to have essentially the same role as now in specifying local rail services and paying subsidy, where necessary, to support their specification.But, as we have discussed, some changes to the present system are going to be necessary to ensure that PTAs and the PTEs fit in properly with the new, privatised structure of the railway, and I promised to write to you explaining how the new system would work.Many of the trains that serve PTA passengers run on beyond a single PTA area, and it would not be operationally sensible to think of letting franchises covering only parts of a a service. That is why our proposal is that the PTAs and PTEs should be jointly involved with the Franchising Director in specifying and granting the franchises for their services.That means PTAs/PTEs being fully involved in specifying the service to be franchised, with each PTE specifying the local services to be supported within its area in terms of service level, service quality and fares, and agreeing that specification with the relevant PTA. The Franchising Director will then invite tenders jointly with the PTE, evaluate the bids and negotiate alongside the PTE with prospective franchisees. The PTE will then sign the franchise agreement, subject to the relevant PTA havving agreed the terms.The PTEs will need to agree with the Franchising Director how franchisees' performance is to be monitored to ensure that they are meeting their contractual obligations, and will be fully involved in the monitoring system, receiving all relevant information on the performance of the franchisee in respect of the services specified by the PTEs. The PTEs will be similarly involved with the Franchising Director in deciding jointly what measures should be taken where a franchisee fails to perform satisfactorily, including, ultimately, termination of the franchise agreement.The PTAs/PTEs' service specifications will largely determine the trainpaths that will be needed by the franchisee to run their services, and the Franchising Director will involve the PTEs in negotiating the necessary access rights.I hope this is helpful and reassures you that the PTAs and PTEs will have a full rôle to play in the privatised railway.