3. What discussions has the Minister had on the proposed reopening of the railway line between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen? OAQ(5)0064(EI)

In 2015, we published an initial scoping report into reopening this line. Subsequently, we funded a further appraisal of the regional transport needs, which is currently being finalised. I am pleased that we have included further development funding in the draft budget.

I’m grateful for that reply. Picking up on a point well made by Adam Price earlier on that communities in Mid and West Wales’s need to feel more integrated with the prosperous areas of south-east Wales, does the Cabinet Secretary agree that the rebuilding of this railway line could make a contribution to that? The line was closed at a time when there was enormous pessimism about the future of rail travel in Britain in the 1960s and a great many of the Beeching-related decisions that were taken then would not have been taken if people had been able to foresee the way that the rail industry has developed in recent years. As it takes six hours to get from Aberystwyth to Cardiff by train via Shrewsbury, this would cut the journey time in half. And fortunately, there has been a big increase in the demand for rail travel: in recent years, the usage of Aberystwyth station has increased by 40 per cent in the last eight years, for example. This would give us a real prospect of reconnecting parts of Wales that perhaps feel that they’re far too distant from the areas where too much investment seems to be taking place in the minds of ordinary people, picking up again on the point that you made at the beginning of today’s proceedings about how the results of the election in America yesterday and Brexit actually derived to a great extent from feelings of exclusion and that we need to do more to connect people.

Being connected is one of the fundamental needs of every human if they’re going live in an environment that has minimal distress and anxiety, and I think it’s essential that, within the programme for government, we place just as much of an emphasis on the united and connected element of Government strategy as we do on the other three important strategies. I think that this project would be an appropriate proposal for the national infrastructure commission for Wales to take a look at once it’s up and running, and I intend asking the commission to do just that. However, in the meantime, we are commissioning a feasibility study, as I say, to build on the existing evidence, and I can outline what that study will incorporate. There will be an assessment of the track. We know that more than 90 per cent of the track remains unaffected; we’ll carry out a review of the track. We’ll look at structures and stations and tunnelling. We’ll look at telecoms and a number of other issues. I think the initial estimate of reinstating the line was something in the region of £750 million as a total project. It is expensive. In terms of deliverability, it could be done because, as I say, the vast majority of the track has already been retained. But it will be a costly project to undertake, which is why I think it has to have expert, independent advice provided to Government in the form of expert advice from the national infrastructure commission.

I’m pleased to tell the Minister that it doesn’t take six hours to travel from Aberystwyth to Cardiff. I do it on a weekly basis and it takes four hours. But, four hours is more than enough to be on the train because most of the journey is through England. It would be nice to travel from Cardiff to Aberystwyth through Wales, rather than through England. But the main blessing of this scheme, as well as linking Aberystwyth and Cardiff, is to link Carmarthen and Aberystwyth—two sub-capitals, as Adam Price said, for west Wales.

It’s extremely important that we see economic growth in west Wales for our young people, for the Welsh language, and for heritage, culture and tourism as well, and that’s what this proposal provides us with: an opportunity to achieve that dream of linking west Wales. Then you wouldn’t need a development zone: the railway would do that for you. But, on a practical basis, I’m pleased to hear that this scheme is to be funded because of the agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Government, and I’m pleased to hear this idea that NICW, the infrastructure programme, is also looking at this. But, in practical terms, we need Network Rail now to look at this scheme in earnest. When I discussed this with Network Rail about a year ago, they were very clear that they would look at a proposal such as this one if the Government was behind it and if there was a feasibility study in place, because then they could programme that for capital development ultimately. Network Rail aren’t doing particularly well on capital programmes at the moment in Wales, but that’s another issue. But, this now needs to be part of their planning. Would you meet with Network Rail urgently to discuss this?

Yes. In fact, I believe my next meeting with Network Rail is coming up in the next six weeks, so that’ll be an issue that I’ll be discussing with them, along with the need to invest more in tree clearance. A lack of investment in tree clearance is leading to too many leaves on the lines, which is leading to a lack of reliability in the network. So, I’ll be raising a number of points with them. I’ve already raised the fact on numerous occasions that I think it’s unacceptable that we in Wales have benefited to the tune of just 1 per cent of overall spend by Network Rail since 2011. I think time is overdue for a windfall from Network Rail right across Wales. I understand that the line was originally closed—. It was a victim of the Beeching cuts when it was closed in 1965, and I know subsequent closures of lines, I think, in 1970 and 1973. I think Members are right, around the Chamber, to say that, had there been the foresight then to secure services, then we’d be in a far better position today to have a more connected Wales. Nonetheless, we now have a duty as Welsh Government to ensure that communities are well connected and that forms of transportation are also integrated where and whenever possible. I think the roll-out of the TrawsCymru bus network has proven that there is incredible demand for people to travel where railway lines are not available across the country and from the north to the south. I’m pleased to be extending the number of services that are available from the TrawsCymru service in the new financial year.

Cabinet Secretary, you are absolutely right, united and connected is totally vital, and I’m very supportive of this. However, we also need to be fiscally responsible. You’ve already talked about the £750 million that it could cost to reopen this line. From a written question by my colleague Andrew Davies, we know that there’s been at least one scoping study of £30,000. There is a bus service that is currently being subsidised by the Welsh Government. All of the sums add up together to make a very big sum of money here, so could you please tell us how much more money is going to have to be spent before we establish the feasibility of this project going ahead?

The money is allocated within the next financial year’s budget—or in the draft budget—and, subsequent to that work being carried out, I’d expect the project to be able to be examined thoroughly by NICW and, following their assessment of the project, Government would then receive a set of recommendations. We would then, if NICW or the experts were minded to recommend the project go ahead, incorporate it into a future national transport finance plan. But I do take on board what the Member says about ensuring that all of what we do in terms of transport and all other services that we provide are fully affordable.