(LD) [V]:...Behind this are the lessons of the
electrification of the Great Western line, which reveal that
message clearly. Expensive mistakes were made in the early stages
because it was so long since any electrification of the railways
had been done in UK that the expertise had to be built up from
scratch. Further projects will inevitably be more cost-efficient,
because the expertise, materials and equipment are all available
now...
(Lab):...The point made by the noble Baroness, Lady
Randerson, about the importance of continuity and mobile
factories was very well made. One reason why our infrastructure
costs are so high in this country is because of the stop-go
attitude we have adopted historically to the building of major
infrastructure. She mentioned the electrification of the
Great Western Railway, which I also authorised
when I was Secretary of State. The estimate that I was given
then, in 2009, for the entire cost of the electrification of the
Great Western from London right through to
Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea was £1 billion. The noble Baroness
can probably tell me what the latest estimate is, but when I last
checked I think it was heading towards £4 billion, and it has
been substantially descoped. For example, it is not going to
Bristol Temple Meads but will now stop at Cardiff, which I would
be very concerned about if I was in south Wales, and it has been
massively delayed. That goes to the heart of the point the noble
Baroness, Lady Randerson, made about continuity in projects. If
we separate Birmingham to Leeds from Birmingham to Crewe and
Manchester, and turn it into a separate project with
discontinuity between the two, that alone would probably
ultimately double or triple the cost of the project, as well as
delaying it and therefore delaying its economic benefits...
(Con)
[V]:...Take the Great Western main line. In
2012, the Government announced that it would be electrified from
London to Swansea at a cost of £900 million. By 2014, that cost
was £1.6 billion and, a year later, it was £2.8 billion. After
the lopping-off of the last 60 miles from Cardiff to Swansea, it
finished four years late at £2.8 billion. What were the excuses
this time for the cost increases? They discovered—after the
project was approved, of course—that 137 tunnels were a bit leaky
and that water dripping down on to the electric wires was not
desirable. We are asked to believe that railway engineers,
technical experts and the contractors who bid for the work did
not know beforehand that these tunnels have had leaks since
Isambard Kingdom Brunel completed the line in 1841. He built the
whole thing in five years, whereas Network Rail could not even
electrify it in seven...
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