Crossrail Bill

moved Amendment No. 14: 14: Clause 36, page 25, line 30, leave out ““the LRT Order or”” The noble Lord said: This group of amendments, which starts with Amendment No. 14, deals with a rather subtle legal point, but before I get to that, I will explain the context. The LRT order that is referred to in the Bill was made in 1994. It exempts the London Underground network from regulation under the Railways Act 1993. To be more precise, it exempts from regulation trains, stations and infrastructure that are used by only a Transport for London group company. That is the case on most of the London Underground network. When we were preparing the Bill, our objective was to ensure that potential impediments to the delivery of Crossrail services could be removed. It is clearly important that appropriate rights of access for Crossrail passengers in the central tunnel section can be secured. For example, Crossrail passengers will need to be able to enter and exit the station at Tottenham Court Road, parts of which will be shared with London Underground and which, therefore, are currently exempt from regulation. Such access for passengers might need to be provided through normal, regulated station access contracts. Hence, Clause 36 provided the explicit ability to amend or revoke the exemption from regulation that the 1994 order provides for stations, should that have been needed. More recently, we have been considering a range of related issues to do with the way that Crossrail will be operated and, hence, how the central tunnel section of Crossrail will be regulated. The Secretary of State would expect to see a case demonstrating a clear, overarching detrimental impact from 1993 Act regulation before she would exempt the Crossrail central tunnel from such regulation. I can confirm that the Department for Transport does not today see such a case. Equally, the Secretary of State recognises that the project—in terms of the way it will be operated—is at a relatively early stage of development. She will therefore need to retain flexibility on this position, in case such a detrimental impact should become clear at a later stage. The department also recognises that different considerations are likely to apply to the central area stations, including the relevant areas of existing London Underground stations. These underground stations are currently exempted from regulation, and the Secretary of State would want to see good reason before deciding to change the status quo. Ultimately, amendments will almost certainly be required to the 1994 order. For example, as I have already explained, we expect that Crossrail services will be operated by a private sector operator working to—on current plans—a concession let by TfL. Unless the 1994 order is amended, the consequence of that would be to bring not just the Crossrail tunnel, but also Crossrail stations and common parts of the relevant London Underground stations, into 1993 Act regulation—even if that is not the intended effect. At the same time, I have said that the department and TfL have agreed to review whether it would make better sense for the DfT rather than TfL to be the franchising authority. We therefore need to allow for the possibility of the department rather than TfL letting the Crossrail franchise. A DfT-let franchise would need to gain proper access to the central area stations, including the relevant areas of existing London Underground stations. An agreement for access must be on appropriate terms, and we cannot rule out whether that should involve the application of 1993 Act regulation. I hope that that explains why we need to retain flexibility on how the 1994 order is amended. This brings me back to the subtle legal point that I referred to at the start. To reiterate, the purpose of Clause 36 was to make explicit the ability of the Secretary of State to amend or revoke the LRT order in relation to the stations that Crossrail will share with London Underground. But, as I have explained, the effect of the LRT order on Crossrail may go a little wider, depending on the way Crossrail is operated. When we re-examined this clause in that context, we became concerned that, by seeking to clarify that specific provisions of the LRT order can be revised in one set of circumstances—for stations shared with Crossrail—we might unwittingly create an implication that the LRT order cannot be revised under the Railways Act 1993 in other circumstances. Primary legislation is intended to clarify rather than confuse. Leaving Clause 36 as it is would have left the position unclear. Extending the powers in Clause 36 to enable all the possible changes to the LRT order that we expect might be needed would have taken us into the problematic territory of a rehybridising amendment. The Committee will appreciate why that route did not appeal. Instead, we have looked again at the powers that the Secretary of State already enjoys under the 1993 Act. We concluded that we would be able to amend the order as needed. On balance, therefore, we believe that the better approach in terms of legal certainty would be to rely on the Railways Act 1993 and accordingly remove these references to the 1994 order in the Bill. I hope that the Committee has followed that exposition and that I have been able to explain the context and reasons for these amendments. I beg to move. On Question, amendment agreed to.