§ John McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total private sector investment in the rail industry that has been indirectly funded by the public sector through franchise payments and access charges has been in each financial year since 1996–97. [177210]
§ Mr. McNultyDetails of annual levels of rail investment and subsidy are set out in Tables 5.1 and 5.2 of the September 2003 edition of the Strategic Rail Authority's quarterly statistics bulletin "National Rail Trends", copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.
All investment recorded in Table 5.2, for each year since 1996–97, is private sector investment, but the investment funded by direct grants to Railtrack, Network Rail and London and Continental Railways in 2001–02 and 2002–03 was directly funded by the public sector. The amount of investment funded indirectly by the public sector cannot be accurately assessed because, for example, some access charges are paid by unsubsidised train operators.