THE Government is to ask the private sector to take on the west coast
main line's urgently needed #500m infrastructure overhaul, Transport
Minister Roger Freeman announced yesterday.
He has appointed Hambros Bank Ltd to examine the possibility of a
formula which would allow private consortia to undertake the work.
It would be the first time private companies had been invited to pay
for infrastructure work since nationalisation in 1948.
In a written answer to a parliamentary question, Mr Freeman said: ''We
are hopeful that private sector funding will enable us to bring forward
modernisation of one of the premier railway routes in the country.''
The 600-mile line, which links London with north-west England and
Glasgow, has been described by its senior managers as being on the verge
of ''catastrophic failure''.
Track and signalling, mainly south of Preston, are reaching the end of
their 30-year life and are in need of extensive upgrading. The private
sector's involvement would centre on #300m in signalling work.
The Government was approached recently by a trio of companies --
Trafalgar House, Balfour Beatty, and GEC Alsthom -- which wanted to
carry out the work in exchange for the right to charge train operators a
fee for using the line.
A Department of Transport official said the work would have to be
awarded after an open competition. Hambros will report in the autumn.
Its fee is being kept secret on grounds of commercial confidentiality.
In the run-up to privatisation and after a decision announced in the
last autumn statement, the Government is opening the way to private
investment in public projects.
Mr Brian Wilson, Labour's transport spokesman, said: ''It's yet
another paper project. The Government is opting out of responsibility
for ensuring that major infrastructure projects go ahead.''
He said the project would join the queue of other railway projects
waiting for private sector money. These include the London Crossrail
route and the Channel Tunnel rail link.
''If, by any chance, it does go ahead on that basis, the private
sector will be looking for a return which will come only through
increased fares. It is hard to see the west coast line being competitive
on that basis with the east coast.''
The move was welcomed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Spokesman Mr Peter Caldwell said: ''The Government has to adopt a more
interventionist approach if it wants to attract private sector finance
for public infrastructure projects.
''Nearly eight months have passed since the Government first launched
its initial plans to attract private capital into such projects; so far,
very little has happened and a mood of disenchantment is setting in.
This initiative could breathe new life into the whole concept.''
He said Hambros would have to clarify the exact nature
of private sector involvement, particularly the risk-sharing
arrangements, and said the Government should give a definite timescale
for the upgrading work.
* #150m of leasing cash announced for British Rail in the last autumn
statement could go to the west coast main line, or save the jobs of 1000
workers in York.
The fate of the Networker express, a 100mph commuter train built by
ABB Transportation, depends on a Government decision expected shortly.
If no cash is available, ABB's York works will probably close with the
loss of 1100 jobs.
''The survival of York depends on this train,'' said Mr Bo Sodersten,
ABB's chief executive, at the launch of the new train yesterday at
London's Waterloo station.
Network SouthEast hopes to use 40 of the trains on its great northern
and south-eastern division commuter routes, including Huntingdon station
in John Major's constituency.
BR will shortly make its recommendation on where the cash should go,
but the decision will rest with the Government.
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