Bletchley-Oxford Rail Link

Richard Fuller Excerpts

Tuesday 15th November 2011 Westminster Hall

[Iain Stewart]

I am grateful for that intervention, which again illustrates the arc of economic growth that runs from east to west. The western section of the line will be instrumental in opening up the second phase of development eastwards.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate; the Minister must be impressed to see a rail project that has such widespread, extensive and popular support, let alone with the economic benefits that have been outlined. Does my hon. Friend believe that such a project would also help with areas of economic deprivation? My constituency has seen levels of unemployment that are above the national average. Too often such issues are thought to affect other parts of the country and are sometimes overlooked in the eastern area.

[Iain Stewart]

My hon. Friend makes a valuable point. The south-east is assumed to be uniformly wealthy, but that is not the case. My constituency also contains pockets of deprivation, and this project will stimulate overall economic activity and benefit all areas.

A key benefit of this project would be a reduction in journey times, leading to a modal shift in our methods of transportation. The proposed rail link would result in a significant reduction in journey times from east to west. Road transport is a nightmare along that corridor, particularly in the key middle section of the line. I often have to drive west from Milton Keynes along the A421 trunk road between Bletchley and Buckingham and the A4421 from Buckingham to Bicester. Both roads are single carriageways, and they are so congested that it is difficult to predict journey times with any accuracy.

The time savings will be transformational. For example, a car journey between Milton Keynes and Oxford, which can take up to an hour and a half, would be replaced by a 40-minute train journey. The journey from Oxford to Bedford would reduce from over two hours by car to one hour by train. The east-west rail line would also open up a new direct rail link from Milton Keynes to Aylesbury and the rest of the Chiltern Railways network to and from London Marylebone. It would help to achieve a modal shift from car to rail, with all the environmental benefits that that entails.

Hon. Friends have raised the issue of wider connectivity and freight, and the east-west rail line would provide much better links with the UK national rail network. It would join up the Great Western line, the west coast main line and the midland main line, which in time would be followed by the east coast main line and the network in East Anglia.

The potential for wider rail services—passenger and freight—to use that corridor is significant, both for scheduling new longer distance services in the future, and for providing a north-south relief route should engineering work be planned on one of the main lines. Such a link would be a valuable piece of the UK’s strategic railway jigsaw, and indirectly it would also relieve some of the pressure on London, which is a point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous). Many people find it easier and quicker to travel into London and go back out, rather than travel across country.

I hesitate to raise this issue, given its controversial nature in the rest of Buckinghamshire, but the east-west rail link would intersect with the proposed route of High Speed 2—the Minister and her colleagues will be glad to hear that I do not intend to enter into the pros and cons of HS2, because there will be plenty of time for that in the weeks and months ahead. Nevertheless, such an intersection would open up the possibility of a parkway station. If HS2 proceeds along the planned route, I would like to see the business case for a parkway station properly assessed in the context of the Y-network, and connections to Heathrow and High Speed 1. More than 500,000 people would live within 30 or 40 minutes’ rail journey from a parkway station, which might significantly augment the business case for HS2. It would also go some way to answering the justifiable objections of people in Buckinghamshire who claim that they will endure the pain of HS2 but receive no gain. That, however, is a side issue, and the case for the east-west rail link stands independently from that for HS2.

All in all, the east-west rail project could generate an additional 2.5 million rail trips annually, and result in nearly 1.5 million fewer car journeys. It has the potential for an annual uplift in regional gross domestic product of £38.1 million and could generate additional annual tax revenues of £17.1 million. All those benefits could be secured for a relatively modest capital investment of £250 million, which, when put in the context of the £33 billion needed for HS2, seems a comparatively small sum. If 100% publicly funded, the project has a benefit-cost ratio of 6.3:l, and the ratio is 11.2:1 if there is a private sector contribution. Again, that compares favourably with the benefit-cost ratio for HS2 of about 2.6:1.

Much work is being undertaken by the consortium to realise private sector investment in the east-west rail project. After five and a half years, a positive income stream would be generated through the fare box and no ongoing public subsidy would be required. Last July, Oxford Economics was commissioned by the consortium to provide an independent assessment and review of the east-west rail link, and it concluded that there is a strong business case for the project to go ahead.

Through local enterprise partnerships, the consortium is developing a funding package to enable the delivery of the scheme via both the public and the private sectors. One key source of funding will be the HLOS for CP5, which is unique in that it is being promoted by a non-rail-industry entity. Consequently, it has not yet appeared in the initial industry plan for CP5, but nobody should take that as a sign that it is not a viable project. I believe that the east-west rail project is a no-brainer and that with a fair wind trains could be running by 2017. If the Government are looking to fast-track infrastructure projects that will deliver growth and jobs, may I gently suggest that the east-west rail project could easily be brought forward and that trains could be running by the end of this Parliament?

I conclude by paying tribute to Patrick O’Sullivan, the consortium’s project manager from Jacobs Engineering UK, and all those involved with the East West Rail Consortium, together with those who have campaigned to restore the rail link for many years. I am extremely grateful to have had this opportunity to present the case for the east-west rail link, and I hope that I have persuaded my right hon. Friend the Minister of its merits.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mrs Theresa Villiers)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Caton, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart) on securing the debate. I welcome the opportunity to consider the merits of the east-west rail proposal, and I welcome the strong attendance from MPs who support the project.

Like those of my hon. Friend, my remarks will focus on the western section of the project—the part most developed—although I may touch briefly on the central section if time permits. He has outlined with great clarity the potential benefits of reopening the line along the western section, and described the boost to economic growth that he believes it would bring, as well as the improvements in journey times, the potential for a modal shift in transportation and, not least, the potential boost to high-tech industries.

I was very impressed by my hon. Friend’s contribution, and I was equally impressed by the presentation I received on this project last year, when my hon. Friend, together with my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North (Mark Lancaster), brought the chairman of the East West Rail Consortium to see me. At that useful meeting I agreed that the Department for Transport would work with the consortium in developing its plans, and that work has since progressed.

The Department has started evaluating the consortium’s plans and forecasts as we prepare the high-level output specification that will set out the Government’s requirements for rail control period 5 from 2014 to 2019. We will consider seriously whether we can provide funding to support the east-west rail project as part of CP5. We have heard today from hon. Members on both sides of the Chamber about the impressive value-for-money case that it seems can be established for the project. However, value for money on its own is not enough. We also need to consider affordability. There is no doubt that this is a very substantial scheme. Whether it proves affordable depends on the extent of alternative sources of funding available to support the project. It also depends on how the benefits of delivering the project compare with competing priorities for CP5—for example, the northern hub or other proposals to improve connections between our northern cities.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes South said, east-west rail is not in the initial industry plan put forward by the rail industry for CP5, but I can assure him that this project will be considered just as seriously as the proposals that are in the industry plan. It is worth noting that the industry plan does make provision for east-west rail, notably in relation to Network Rail’s proposals for Oxford station. I can also happily inform my hon. Friend that the Association of Train Operating Companies is providing expert advice to the Department on the best-value long-distance passenger services that might use the route if it goes ahead. That is assisting our evaluation of the project and could enhance the value-for-money case for east-west rail.

I have been very impressed by the work of the consortium as well as the supportive MPs. The collaboration of the 20-plus local authorities in the consortium provides a good example for others to follow in building a broad local consensus for an ambitious vision of new rail infrastructure to support economic growth and, potentially, housing growth.

[Richard Fuller]

Will my right hon. Friend deal with an issue that is gaining currency for some of us who represent constituencies in the eastern area and in the south-east? Government investment priorities sometimes overlook the fact that there are significant areas of deprivation in the south-east. There is a tendency to favour projects in other parts of the country. This project is not only vital to economic growth, as has been mentioned. It is also of value in restoring opportunities for job creation in areas and pockets of significant deprivation. Will she deal with that issue?

[Mrs Villiers]

Certainly I will. My hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew), who is sitting beside my hon. Friend the Member for Bedford (Richard Fuller), often berates me for not committing sufficient funding to rail infrastructure outside the south-east. The reality is that the Government must consider carefully where taxpayer funding will deliver the greatest economic benefits. Whether we are talking about deprivation in the south-east or in the north, that is a crucial issue that we need to consider to take the difficult decisions on where to prioritise funding. We do not at all assume that everywhere in the south-east is prosperous. We know that improving our transport infrastructure in both the south and the north can deliver major benefits in quality of life, jobs and growth. That is why we are seeking to roll out a major programme of investment that helps the whole country.

The consortium has funded much of the cost of its work on the project to date, steadily developing its plans so that they stand on an equal footing with projects being proposed by the rail industry nationally in the IIP. The consortium has also explored ways for local authorities to use the forecast economic growth to fund part of the building costs if the project gets the go-ahead. That could make the project much more affordable, as we have heard. If we can agree to provide some funding for east-west rail as part of CP5, we may look to the consortium to make good on those local contributions on which it has been working so hard.