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?