5. Debate: The Future of Wales's Railway

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:22 pm on 5 February 2019.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 4:22, 5 February 2019

I'm certainly one that doesn't see Wales as behaving in isolation, and what happens in terms of infrastructure elsewhere can be beneficial. But what happens in terms of infrastructure elsewhere can be detrimental to us too. Look at HS2—every study shows that HS2, with the billions being spent on HS2, would be detrimental to the Welsh economy as a whole, even though there might be advantages in terms of a slightly quicker link to Crewe for passengers in the north.

I will press ahead to my local amendment, amendment 8, calling for the reopening of the Gaerwen to Amlwch line. We all regret the decisions that were taken by Beeching back in the 1960s, but some rail lines were saved then and we have benefited from that. The reopening of the line to Ebbw Vale is one good example. Some lines were saved. Another one that was saved was the line across Anglesey. It was saved because it was used as an industrial link to the Great Lakes bromide works in Amlwch, right up until the 1990s. There is a rail line there, it needs reopening. I don't need to tell you the bad economic news that we've had in the north of Anglesey in recent times. Let's have a renewed focus on reopening that line so that we can look to connect that disengaged community in the north of the island with new economic opportunities, and look for tourism opportunities at the same time. We have to be more ambitious on Anglesey, but as we look today a little bit wider, we have to be more ambitious about what we can do for our own rail infrastructure in Wales in future.