Disappointment at the “insulting” funding settlement for Wales’ railways in the Spending Review has been voiced by numerous Welsh ministers.
Earlier this month, the government announced the conclusion of its Spending Review where it pledged £10.2bn for major rail projects across the country and £23bn for High Speed 2 (HS2). A total of £15.6bn was also apportioned to England’s city regions for transport projects.
From the £10.2bn for rail enhancements, Wales will receive £300M. The Spending Review also recognised “Wales’ long-term infrastructure needs and deliver £445M of rail enhancements to realise them”.
A further £48M has been apportioned to the Welsh government for enhancements of the Core Valley Lines rail network via the Spending Review.
These sums have left some Welsh minister and members of the Senedd disgruntled at the situation. Rail is an increasing priority of the Welsh government as it looks to move the public away from car use and into public transport.
Tensions boiled in Parliament on 19 June when Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe David Chadwick expressed his concern.
Responding to chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones’ announcement of the 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy, he said: “I hope the Minister appreciates just how insulting it is to Welsh ears for us to be told that we are getting a fair deal on railway funding, when we know that we have been cheated out of billions of pounds due to the classification of several projects as England and Wales projects.”
This is in reference to HS2 being classified as an England and Wales project, enabling the government to say it has apportioned money for Wales’ rails even when the line does not cross the border.
Chadwick continued: “Wales is getting only five railway stations between Newport and Cardiff. That is hardly national renewal, is it? Will he bet on Wales and commit to projects outside that belt, such as projects across mid-Wales and west Wales or the electrification of the north and south lines?”
Chief secretary to the treasury Darren Jones kicked back saying that Chadwick “might want to be a little more grateful” for the money that is being promised.
Senedd debate on rail funding
Chadwick’s outburst came off the back of the long-running outrage over the HS2 classification, which Welsh ministers say has robbed their railways of £4bn in funding.
On Wednesday, members of the Senedd aired their despair at the situation during a debate over a petition that is calling for the reopening of the Bangor to Afon-wen and Aberystwyth to Carmarthen rail lines to reconnect north and south Wales. The petition received 13,000 signatures, prompting the debate, but the cost of the project is expected to be around £2bn and take 10 years according to a study carried out by Transport for Wales.
During the debate, the Welsh politicians complained of the UK government’s allocation of rail funding to Wales as part of the funding that is being provided for south England.
Plaid Cymru Senedd member for Arfon Siân Gwenllian said: “Perhaps, in response to campaigning by Plaid Cymru around HS2, £0.4bn will come to Wales – much less than the £4bn that we are owed – and half of that funding would enable us to move towards making [the Bangor to Afon-wen and Aberystwyth to Carmarthen rail lines] a reality.
“£4bn is owed to us because of HS2. What are we receiving? £0.4bn, as far as I can see, not a penny of that will come to west Wales.”
Plaid Cymru member of the Senedd for Mid and West Wales Cefin Campbell repeated Genllian’s claims and expressed anger at the timeframe that is being mentioned for the funding to cover.
“The paltry £0.4bn for Welsh railways, announced by Rachel Reeves last week, spread across a period of 10 years, was another stain […] on the UK government’s record on this matter.
“It’s a fraction, as we’ve known for a long time, of what we’re owed, and a fraction of what English regions with smaller populations are receiving.
“Only today we heard that the total cost of HS2 is now about £100bn, so the money owing to Wales is closer to between £5bn and £6bn.”
Welsh Labour and Co-operative minister Lee Waters – who was formerly Welsh deputy minister for climate change – further agreed the funding was inadequate.
“I accept your point that we are underfunded and that we should be getting £4bn if we had our proper share of rail investment,” he said.
Discussing the proposal to reopen the Bangor to Afon-wen and Aberystwyth to Carmarthen rail lines, Waters said: “We do know that rail is very expensive. We all deeply regret the decision to get rid of these railway lines in the first place. It shouldn’t have happened. But now it has happened, the cost of restoring them is very significant.
“Once the money is spent once, you can’t spend it on something else, obviously. The feasibility study that the petition refers to, into the Afon Wen to Caernarfon line, and looking alongside at the outline costs of a Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line, showed that the indicative costs for restoring both of these is in the region of £2bn. Now, that’s £2bn we don’t have to spend on all the other transport priorities we have in Wales.”
Waters went on to say how a recent study pointed out you could achieve significant improvement in public transport, particularly between Bangor and Caernarfon, with a light rail option and a rapid coach service.
“That’s a much more modest cost of something like £4.5M to set up, and a £2M annual running cost.
“It’s not as romantic as a railway, it’s not as nice as a railway. We all like to travel by train, but there are real trade-offs that we need to face.”
Discussing a feasibility study on the Bangor to Afon Wen line that was released earlier this year Welsh Labour and Co-operative member of the Senedd for North Wales Carolyn Thomas said: “The report is written by and for engineers, but it is clear about the scale of the challenge.
“While most of the route identified in the report remains in the ownership of local authorities, there are 79 places where roads cross the route.
“There are also a number of homes and businesses that have grown up on the track bed, or close to it, and there are large sections that have been converted to popular active travel routes.
“While a third of the 43.7km route is deemed to require minimal intervention, there is 15% that would require high or very high intervention.”
Skates stated the multi-billion pound scheme, named Network North Wales, would take a cross-border approach to transforming public transport in the Mersey-Dee area. This would include constructing new metro style services on the North Wales mainline and a new direct rail link between Wrexham and Liverpool.
Central to the plans is to introduce a metro style system for public transport over the whole of the north Wales region. This means incorporating one network, timetable and ticketing system for ease of use by its users.
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