- Home
- 2003
Rail Regulator's direction on Midland Main Line access to St Pancras Station
|
14 April 2003
The Rail Regulator, Tom Winsor, has today issued directions to London & Continental Stations & Property Limited requiring the company to enter into a new station access contract with Midland Main Line Limited, to provide Midland Main Line's trains with continued access to St Pancras Station. Tom Winsor said: "As the parties were unable to agree on the terms for extending their existing agreement, and after consulting widely with all potentially affected parties within the industry, I have today issued directions under section 17 of the Railways Act 1993 for a new contract. The new contract which will begin on 29 April 2003 and will run until 2008, or until international services start operating at the station, whichever is earlier." The new contract includes the terms under which London & Continental Stations & Property Limited will compensate Midland Main Line Limited for the disruption to its business at the station caused by construction work for the international terminal of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Midland Main Line's current station access agreement with London & Continental Stations & Property Limited expires on 28 April 2003. Notes for editors:1. Copies of the document Midland Main Line Limited - London & Continental Stations & Property Limited: Rail Regulator's conclusions on application under section 17, Railways Act 1993 published on 14 April 2003 is available to download from the right hand side of this page, and also from the ORR Librarian, Sue MacSwan, 1 Waterhouse Square, 138-142 Holborn, London EC1N 2TQ, tel: 020 7282 2001; fax 020 7282 2045. 2. On 15 October 2002, Midland Main Line Limited made an application to the Regulator to direct London & Continental Stations & Property Limited, as the station facility owner for St Pancras Station, to enter into a station access agreement to replace its existing access agreement when it expires on 28 April 2003. The application was made under section 17 of the Railways Act 1993. In the case of station access, section 17 is available to a train operator if it has been unable to obtain terms that it considers acceptable from the station facility owner. Midland Main Line Limited made the application under section 17 because it could not reach agreement with London & Continental Stations & Property Limited on the levels of compensation payable by the station facility owner for the disruption caused to its business by the construction of the international terminal at St Pancras Station, as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. 3. In a section 17 case, as in all applications to him, the Regulator must make a judgment according to the public interest criteria in section 4 of the Railways Act 1993. He must comply with the statutory procedures and the timescales set out in Schedule 4 to the Act. He is not required to accept the views of either the applicant or the facility owner as to what should be done and must determine the question of what capacity should be allocated and the terms on which it will be allocated in accordance with his assessment of what the public interest requires. 4. The ORR employed independent transport consultants, MVA, to give the Regulator advice on the appropriate arrangements for providing compensation to Midland Main Line Limited. A redacted copy of the consultants' report is available to download from the right hand side of this page.
|
621 Kb)