Mr Reginald Eyre: As I have already said, I understand the hon. Gentleman's support for development in Manchester, but I must emphasise that the airport link is connected with the railway "Windsor link" and the electrification of the Preston-Manchester line. All of these developments are issues that British Rail must consider and prepare plans on. It must use its expertise to bring forward proposals. Mr....
Mr Reginald Eyre: I understand the importance that my hon. Friend attaches to that subject, but he is badly out of date on the difficulty with sleeping cars. Those difficulties have now been dealt with satisfactorily.
Mr Reginald Eyre: I understand the hon. Gentleman's enthusiasm, but he misunderstands British Rail's role. It must be for British Rail to develop and advance plans for a railway development of that type.
Mr Reginald Eyre: On main line services, we require acceptable plans for the commercial operation of the intercity and freight businesses, and a good prospect, on the basis of those plans, that the investment will earn a 7 per cent. return on the capital employed. On other lines, the case for electrification depends on whether this is the most cost-effective way of maintaining a rail passenger service.
Mr Reginald Eyre: I note my hon. Friend's point, and within the context of financial viability, we shall do our best to keep that in mind. As he knows, British Rail has proposed electrification on the Cambridge line from both Royston and Bishops Stortford. It has been asked to consider whether it would be more cost-effective to electrify only one of those lines. We await further information from British Rail...
Mr Reginald Eyre: My right hon. Friend made clear the position about the prospectus that has been received from British Rail. That is now being considered with regard to the development about which the hon. Gentleman asked.
Mr Reginald Eyre: At least one is being implemented.
Mr Reginald Eyre: My hon. Friend will know that such proposals must come in the first instance from British Rail, but I shall draw his point to its attention.
Mr Reginald Eyre: The prospectus relates to the entire intercity network. The document to which the right hon. Gentleman refers does not include such an electrification proposal.
Mr Reginald Eyre: Last year we received proposals from the British Railways Board for electrification from Hitchin to Leeds and Newcastle. We are considering these proposals further in the light of the board's revised inter-city prospectus, which has recently been submitted, and which is to be followed by longer-term proposals for the inter-city business which, I understand, are coming within a few months.
Mr Reginald Eyre: I could not answer the second part of the hon. Gentleman's question immediately, but discussions on electrification involve questions such as timing of the replenishment of rolling stock. That is why we need to study the prospectus that we have received before we can reach a decision on the east coast main line scheme.
Mr Reginald Eyre: The House is grateful to the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras, South (Mr. Dobson) for giving us an opportunity to discuss these proposals. While, for reasons that I shall come to in a moment, I cannot comment on the merits of the AMOS case—and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his understanding comment—I should like to describe the legislative background. I hope that the...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I have explained the normal procedure that would apply in a matter of this kind, and I hope that the hon. Gentleman will read my words carefully tomorrow. I also referred to the public service vehicle operator's licence. Those considerations apply in all cases of this kind. If the hon. Gentleman considers carefully what I have said, I think he will find that I have answered his question in...
Mr Reginald Eyre: The purpose of this short and straightforward Bill is to relieve the Port of London Authority and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company of certain debts, so as to bring the capital structure of those two port authorities into line with the revenue that they can expect to earn. Under the Bill, in the case of the PLA, the debt reduction will be in two parts: first up to £26 million of debt to...
Mr Reginald Eyre: The hon. Gentleman is right in his summary of the position. The factors that I mentioned will obviously affect the amounts to be written off under the Bill. I wish to refer to the points raised by the hon. Member for Newham, South (Mr. Spearing). He raised a number of matters that come within the management responsibility of the PLA. He mentioned the royal docks. He covered the history of...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I shall write to the hon. Gentleman about the grid. I assure him that all necessary considerations will be borne in mind. The hon. Member for Newham, South spoke also about the role of the LDDC. He was good enough to send my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment a copy of the letter that he wrote to the chairman of the corporation. I am sure that he will understand...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I know that the local authorities and the PLA are keen to play a constructive part in these developments. We should look to these developments to bring substantial and long-lasting benefits to the constituency of the hon. Member for Newham, South and to those who live there. The discussion of the Bill in Committee and on Second Reading showed that there was broad support for its objectives....
Mr Reginald Eyre: Before replying to some of the misconceptions and even misrepresentations that have been heard in the debate, I wish to explain once again the real reasons why British Rail Engineering Ltd. and British Rail have taken these decisions with regard to Shildon, Horwich and Temple Mills. The hon. Member for Westhoughton (Mr. Stott) ranged widely in his speech and made some unjustifiable...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I appreciate the importance of the point made by the hon. Gentleman. I want to relate my reply to the questions posed by the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Mr. Foster) and to the points made by the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, East (Mr. Thomas) and by my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings (Mr. Warren). Ten years ago, British Rail's freight business required 220,000 wagons. They...
Mr Reginald Eyre: The hon. Gentleman fairly related a great deal of that reduction to the world recession. One also has to recognise, as I do coming from the industrial area of Birmingham, that there has been a structural change in the nature of industry that affects the demand for steel. These are complicated factors with which I shall be dealing shortly. The changes that the railways are making to face the...
