Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:57 pm on 23 January 2018.
Can I thank John Griffiths for his comments and his questions? It was remiss of me not to say that we'll also soon have the 'made in Wales' stamp on CAF trains, just as we have a 'made in Wales' stamp on Airbus wings, on Raytheon products. We will have 'made in Wales' stamped all over trains, planes and automobiles for the global market very soon. I think that's important in developing an identity of Wales as a place where high-value manufacturing is taken very seriously.
It's unacceptable to have crowding to such a degree as we're witnessing at the moment on the train network. It is absolutely appalling, at peak hours in particular, on many services—on those already highlighted by John Griffiths, but on services that I'm sure many Members in this Chamber use on a daily or weekly basis. During the next franchise, it's our determined position to ensure that quality improves, that punctuality improves, that the frequency of train journeys improves, that capacity, most certainly, improves noticeably, and that technological solutions also improve. Indeed, we are motivating and encouraging the bidders to utilise new and emerging technologies to ensure that passenger comfort is optimised.
In terms of those cross-border services that John Griffiths has highlighted, I noted recently that the Secretary of State believed that Welsh Government could take more control over those particular cross-border services. It's something that we have been asking for, and it's something that we would very much welcome in the short term, medium term and in the longer term, as we seek to improve, noticeably, rail services across Wales and on a cross-border basis.