Crossrail Bill

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, for regrouping the amendments, and I will address his amendment in due course. I understand his point about the interim arrangements perhaps being complicated by this provision, but we are trying to put a necessary flexibility into the Bill. I thought that I made clear the circumstances in which it would be of value and would enable the Crossrail project to be taken forward. Providing the flexibility to enable the project is important. I am not going to get drawn into a debate about the length of franchises; that is not the purpose of today’s deliberations. I understand the point that the noble Lord made, and I have probably made the point in the past. I understand the argument that is being put, but that is not for us, and it is not for Crossrail in these terms. My noble friend Lord Berkeley confessed his cynicism. I cannot see why we would want to run down the timetable and then run the services, having committed ourselves with the City and the mayor to a £16 billion project. I cannot see the sense or the logic in the argument. It does not add up. This is a massive investment, which is designed to make a significant difference to east-west and west-east transportation across London and continue the further regeneration of important parts of London along that route, with all the synergies that it brings. I invite my noble friend to be less cynical at later stages of the Bill. I throw that out as a challenge to him, and I invite him to think further on his approach. We have no plan to take over all services, as he might have implied, on either the eastern main line or the western main line. We are only talking here about suburban services using a slow line and nothing on the fast lines at all. On Amendment No. 13, which the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, regrouped, the expectation is that Crossrail services will be procured from the private sector and, on current plans, by means of a concession let by Transport for London. The department will participate in the detailed service and timetable planning of the franchise to ensure that the interests of all railway users are properly represented during the franchise specification. Noble Lords have accepted that premise. However, as I said, the department and TfL have agreed to review the position, which makes good sense. That review will take place in good time, before operating contracts are entered into with the private sector. It will consider whether it would make better sense for the department rather than TfL to be the franchising authority. An issue, for example, is whether Crossrail services should be franchised on their own or with some other service groups. Alternatively, Crossrail may be extended in the future to Reading, for which there is a powerful lobby, which would see services extended significantly further beyond the Greater London Authority area to a regional centre. The department's expectation is that such an extension would see the franchising authority revert back to the Department for Transport. Ultimately, the current plans in relation to TfL letting the Crossrail franchise reflect the unique circumstances of this project, but the Committee will appreciate that significant detail will need to be worked through in the coming years between the department, Transport for London, the mayor and train operators as to how exactly Crossrail will be integrated into national rail services and the railway network. In conclusion, we need to retain flexibility in relation to who should be the franchising authority. That will ensure that a Crossrail train operating company can be procured in the most effective and efficient manner available at the time. For that reason, I invite the noble Lord not to move his amendment and I hope that the Committee will agree our amendments. On Question, amendment agreed to.