3. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport: Rail Services and the South Wales Metro

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:47 pm on 5 June 2018.

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Photo of Mr Simon Thomas Mr Simon Thomas Plaid Cymru 3:47, 5 June 2018

(Translated)

If I could ask the Cabinet Secretary—. He’s just mentioned some of the ways in which the franchise can cut down on carbon emissions; can he confirm specifically that we will see trains using hydrogen as part of this programme over the next 15 years? Such trains are already running in certain parts of Germany, and it’s a way, as he suggested, of skipping beyond the electrification problems that we have at the moment and introducing something better immediately for the people of Wales.

The second thing I want to ask is on the financial infrastructure underpinning all of this. We know some of the details, but not all of them, because it is confidential in terms of costs. But on Friday, you published a written statement on access payments for the railways, and I was pleased to see that you had come to an agreement now with the UK Government, but the details are not yet available. Can you confirm when those details and that agreement will be published so that we can scrutinise that? You will recall, of course, that if you don’t come to an agreement, then to all intents and purposes, you will pay £1 billion over 15 years in order to get that access under the current system. You say that that is coming to an end—excellent—but you also say that you have had to agree under the current comprehensive spending review to spend over £100 million over the next two years. Given that the UK Government is only giving £125 million for the south Wales metro, that is an example of giving with one hand and taking with the other. The Welsh Government is not much better off from the contribution from the Government that is still responsible—as they haven’t devolved the railways—for the railways across the UK. So, can you just give us a little more flesh on the bone in terms of those figures and explain when you will be publishing a statement on the full agreement, so that we have an opportunity to scrutinise that financial agreement very carefully?