§ Mr. DunnTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement setting out his policy on exemptions to be granted from the various requirements of part I of the Railways Bill.
§ Mr. FreemanI have today published a statement setting out our policy, and placed a copy in the Library. Copies are available from the Department of Transport, Room S18/22, 2 Marsham street, London SW1P 3EB.
§ Mr. DunnTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport when open access for operators of new services will come into effect, following enactment of the Railways Bill.
§ Mr. FreemanIt is intended that open access—the opportunity for new operators to run services on the rail network—will start in April 1994, the proposed vesting date for Railtrack. We have already announced that there will be restrictions placed on open access, to the extent412W necessary, to allow the successful transfer of British Rail's passenger services to the private sector. Guidance on the restrictions required for each franchise will be given when invitations to tender are issued. If open access operators apply for train paths in advance of invitations to tender for the franchise concerned, they will be informed then of the terms of competition which will apply.
§ Mr. DunnTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to decide the full programme for franchising British Rail's passenger services.
§ Mr. MacGregorI 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 Libraries of both Houses.
§ Mr. WelshTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what further consideration he has given to the Transport Select Committee's first and second reports on the "Future of the Railways"; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregorI responded to the Committee's interim report by letter on 20 January. I responded to the Committee's final report on the future of the railways on Friday 21 May. I very much welcome the Select Committee's conclusion
that the Government is right to examine ways of involving the private sector in the railways as a means of increasing the total amount of investment".