Crossrail Bill

This is a large group of amendments concerning the railway matters in the Bill, and it will take me a few minutes to explain them. The majority complete actions that were promised during the Commons stages of the Bill. The dozen clauses 23 to 34 were included in the Bill as reserve powers to ensure, principally through overriding duties on the Office of Rail Regulation, that Crossrail can be built and Crossrail services can operate. In parallel with the Bill process, the Department for Transport has negotiated an access option with Network Rail to grant the necessary access rights for Crossrail services so as to provide essential security on which to base investment in the Crossrail project. Following industry-wide consultation, including holding a hearing, the ORR issued its decision on 14 April this year to approve the access option with modifications. Yesterday, the ORR gave its formal directions under the Railways Act 1993, which marks the completion of the legal documentation for the access option. As a result, the reserve powers in the Bill can now be deleted as proposed in amendments Nos. 5 to 16. Two new clauses are proposed under amendments No. 3 and 4. Amendment No. 3 includes an additional objective of facilitating the construction of Crossrail in the ORR's list of objectives in section 4(1) of the Railways Act 1993. This does not direct the ORR on how it should meet that new objective. That is for its judgment as the independent rail regulator in the circumstances at the time, balancing all its section 4(1) objectives. The provision is precedented by section 17 of the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006. Amendment No. 4 requires the ORR to produce a report on what it has done, or proposes to do, to meet its new Crossrail construction-related objective and on how it has exercised, or proposes to exercise, any of its functions in relation to the operation of Crossrail services. That is to aid transparency, given that the ORR, in reaching decisions that take account of all relevant interests, is important to the successful delivery of the Crossrail project. Amendments Nos. 17, 18 and 20 relate to clause 35. The clause disapplies the prohibition in the Railways Act 1993 on a public sector operator acting as a franchisee, which provides flexibility to accommodate a potentially public sector franchisee of Crossrail passenger services if that is considered desirable. It might, for example, be in the period when Crossrail services are being phased in, during which it could be challenging to let a conventional private sector franchise. Amendments Nos. 17, 18 and 20 extend that flexibility in two respects in order to ease the construction of Crossrail and the bringing into operation of services. Amendment No. 17 enables ancillary or complementary services to be included within a Crossrail public sector franchise. That is to aid franchise mapping, so as to avoid services closely related to Crossrail services becoming orphans, as it were, because they do not logically fit into another group of services that are franchised. Amendments Nos. 17 and 18 provide for a public sector franchise for services that are likely to suffer substantial disruption because of the construction of Crossrail. Better value for money may be achieved by managing certain suburban services as part of project delivery. Amendments Nos. 21 to 24 deal with another matter. This is not so much a change in policy, but a modification to the legal route by which this is delivered. The background is that the Railways (London Regional Transport) (Exemptions) Order 1994 exempts the London underground network from regulation under the Railways Act 1993. Unless we can amend that order, there might be unintended exemptions or applications of regulations relating to the Crossrail tunnels or their interchanges with relevant London underground stations. We looked again at the powers that the Secretary of State already enjoys under the 1993 Act, and we concluded that we would be able to amend the order under them. Given that it is reasonably likely that we will use powers under the 1993 Act in any event, it will be simpler and clearer to rely solely on those powers rather than have specific provisions for amendment in clause 36. It is a different means to the same end. Finally, amendment No. 26 relates to clause 40. This clause is based on a provision contained in the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996, and provides an obligation to co-operate between the nominated undertaker and controllers of railway assets with which Crossrail construction, maintenance or operation interact. The asset controllers in question include London Underground and the public private partnerships, BAA, and Network Rail. Either party can require the other party to enter into an agreement, and if this cannot be reached, it is referred to arbitration, for which clauses 41 and 42 establish the arrangements. Amendment No. 26 ensures that clause 40 cannot be used in circumstances where the matter may be dealt with by the Office of Rail Regulation—in effect, requiring a solution to be reached under the aegis of the normal regulatory processes. Amendments Nos. 19, 20, 25, 29 and 31 are consequential.