During a debate on the Government's Transport Plan, Charles Walker calls for extra capacity on the Broxbourne to Cheshunt line.

Mr. Charles Walker (Broxbourne) (Con): I am sorry to ambush the right hon. Gentleman, but we have some capacity problems on the Broxbourne to Cheshunt line, which we share with the Stansted Express. Would it be possible for me to write to the Secretary of State and perhaps have a meeting with him or one of his Ministers to discuss ways of getting extra capacity on that line without any additional cost to the public purse-perhaps by getting BAA to make a slightly largely contribution, and possibly letting us share some of its Stansted Express trains?

Mr. Darling: If the hon. Gentleman wrote, I am sure that the Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Derek Twigg), would be happy to meet him. If the hon. Gentleman can persuade BAA to pay for increased capacity as far south as Cheshunt into Liverpool street, I will happily join him, although I am not sure that BAA will accept that proposition-at least, not without some persuasion. However, the hon. Gentleman is right. That is a case of a railway line on which there has been a huge increase in the number of passengers. With the additional housing that we know about, never mind the housing that is coming, plus the developments at Stansted airport, capacity is one of the big issues that need to be addressed. I shall return to how we do that.

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