Mr. Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh, North and Leith):
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dundee, East (Mr. Luke) on the persistence with which he has raised this issue. He referred to Edinburgh's Waverley station, which is a vital hub for the rail network in Scotland and the entirety of Great Britain. Most of us were looking forward to the major upgrade of Waverley station, which has been under discussion for a number of years. I share my hon. Friend's concern at the way in which the original proposals for a major upgrade—ambitious, but essential if rail services in Scotland and on the east coat are to develop their full potential—seem to have been reduced to the minimum. As my hon. Friend says, the signs this week—I hope that it is just press speculation—are that the proposals will be reduced to the most basic scheme possible. Moreover, those proposals would have to be funded entirely by the Scottish Executive and, notwithstanding the UK-wide importance of the Waverley upgrade, without a contribution from the Strategic Rail Authority.

I do not expect my hon. Friend the Minister to be able to respond to the issue in any detail today. However, given the concerns raised by so many hon. Members and others, I ask him to meet me, the other hon. Members who represent Edinburgh seats and members of the local authority, so that he can hear our concerns about the future of Waverley. We can then find out the time scale and the current situation for that project, which is important both to Edinburgh and the entire country...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. David Jamieson) :
My hon. Friend also talked about Waverley station. At £33.5 million, this is the largest investment project being undertaken in Scotland and is due for completion It includes the renewal of equipment in the main signal centre at Waverley, which controls the east coast main line. I have not had time to cover many of the points that my hon. Friend raised. To give a proper answer to some of the other question I am prepared to enter into correspondence with him if he will find that helpful, rather than trying to deal with them now