Amendment 105 moved by (Lab):
105: Clause 7, page 6, line 25, at end insert—
“( ) No regulations altering the roles and responsibilities of
the European Union Agency for Rail relating to rail transport and
the application of legislation relating to it may come into force
until a Minister of the Crown has laid before both Houses of
Parliament a report setting out the benefits and costs of any
such alteration for the passenger and freight rail sectors and
the impact of the alterations on rail infrastructure managers in
the United Kingdom in terms of capital and operation costs.”
: ...I hope that when
the noble Lord comes to respond, he will be able to give us some
warm words about how we can retain our involvement with the
European railways agency and sort out all the different issues
around standards, drivers’ approvals, Rolling Stock approvals and
everything else. I declare an interest as the chairman of the Rail
Freight Group, and we do want to see rail freight and Eurostar
continuing their services after March next year. I beg to
move.
(CB): My Lords, I
added my name to the amendment to note that rail contributes £85
billion of extra economic benefit to the British economy. About
41,000 of the 240,000 people who work in the rail industry are EU
nationals. To make this point, the amendments basically say that
we have to adhere to the European Union Agency for Railways,
which has EU-wide responsibility for implementing the technical
aspects of railway legislation. This cannot be under- estimated
because it encompasses safety, specifications of
interoperability—TSIs—and a common verification process for
infrastructure and Rolling Stock. Most railway industry
manufacturers have standard products designed for supply across
the whole of the EU, in line with these requirements...
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