Trefnydd, you'll be clearly aware of the announcement last week of plans by the UK Government to develop a west Wales parkway rail station on land at Felindre, Swansea, within your Gower constituency. Now, the proposal, as you know, which would make use of the Swansea district line, will bring about improvements to passengers in west Wales by delivering shorter journey times to Cardiff and London—being as electrification has gone—reducing the journey by up to a quarter of an hour, with scope for greater journey savings if line speeds are increased. It could also help with congestion issues on the M4 around Swansea and Port Talbot, and the main commuter arteries into Swansea.

Clearly, though, these east-west rail improvements cannot be looked at in isolation. You'll be aware that the Welsh Government has previously commissioned a feasibility for a Swansea bay and western Valleys metro. South-west Wales is crying out for improved public transport, and rail needs to play a key part in that. As well as seeing services to Swansea and Neath stations protected, we also need to see other routes being brought back into use—the Amman and Swansea Valley rail route, for example—and ensuring quality transport links to the Neath, Dulais and Afan valleys. The Welsh Government has been quiet on the UK Government's west Wales parkway proposal, and I would therefore be grateful if the Minister for transport would bring forward a statement on what discussions he is having with the UK Government, and how he sees the west Wales parkway interlinking with the wider challenge of developing further rail and tram infrastructure within the region, as part of the Swansea bay metro.