Swansea Bay City Region

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:00 pm on 15 May 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 2:00, 15 May 2018

I know the idea—the idea has been around for some time for a station at Morriston, effectively: Swansea parkway, as I understand it. There are issues, because it would mean upgrading the Swansea district line, and it would bypass Swansea itself, and also bypass Neath. And I know that people in Neath do not want to see their station bypassed in that way and I can well understand why it is not Government policy that we would want to do that. So, there would be a need to upgrade the Swansea district line, because at the moment it's a freight line and is used for occasional passenger diversions. There would also be a need to ensure that services were not lost to existing stations, particularly inter-city services—not just inter-city services, but all services—if that proposal was taken forward. So, an interesting idea, but there are some negative potential effects, unless any services on the Swansea district line were in addition to the services that already exist, serving stations such as Swansea high street itself and Neath.