HC Deb 04 February 2004 vol 417 cc909-10W
John McDonnell

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the total level of investment provided by the private sector in the railway industry was in each of the financial years since the publication of the 10 Year Plan; [152444]

(2) if he will list the railway investment projects supported by the private sector in the last financial year; what the total level of funding provided by the private sector for these projects was (a) in the last financial year and (b) in total since the projects began; and what the private sector proportion of total funding for these projects was. [152445]

Mr. McNulty

The table shows total private rail investment in each of the three years 2000–01, 2001–02 and2002–03:

£ million
2000–01 2,958
2001–02 3,386
2002–03 3,156

Rail investment projects supported by the private sector in 2002–03 include the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), West Coast Route Modernisation (WCRM), the train protection scheme, stations and depots, Waterloo-Fawkham Junction and the East Coast Main Line.

The total level of private funding raised by London and Continental Railways (LCR) in 2002–03, mainly for CTRL, was £2.1 billion. The total amount spent by Network Rail (NR) in 2002–03 on the other projects listed was, respectively, £761 million, £140 million, £44 million, £26 million and £11 million.

Comparable figures for the private and public sector contributions to the CTRL project are not readily available. The total level of private funding raised by LCR since the CTRL project began, mainly for that project, is £6.3 billion, not all of which has yet been drawn. The project also benefits from Public Sector Support (including capital and operating grants and loans, less amounts recovered by Government in respect of land rentals and proceeds from property developments) estimated in 2002 to total, over the life of the project, £1.8 billion in present value terms (discounted at 6 per cent. real to January 1997).

Total spending to date on the WCRM project, by NR and its predecessor Railtrack, is of the order of £3 billion. Total NR spending on the other projects listed above, since they began, is not readily available. It is not possible accurately to estimate the proportion of total funding for these projects which is provided by the private sector, because some private rail investment is indirectly funded by the public sector through franchise payments and access charges.