Llywydd, can I thank Russell George for his contribution, for his questions? I very much welcome the cross-party support that the Government gratefully has for its position on devolution of rail. I think the Member makes an important case for the integration not just of track and train, but of various modes of transport, and that's precisely what we are intending to do by having rail devolved to Wales. I think the Member is also right that passengers right now will be reflecting on the services that they use in the present moment.

Now, we are on a journey, a £5 billion journey—Russell George rightly identifies recent challenges that have, in no small part, been due to historic underinvestment in the rail network. And Russell rightly identified, for example, signalling failures, which are due to a lack of investment in recent times. I would welcome the UK Government's commitment to spend additional resources across the Wales route network. However, I would also remind Members of the very significant resource that the Welsh Government has invested in rail infrastructure in recent years—which has not been a responsibility; we've done it regardless. And, in recent times, I think the Wales Audit Office were able to calculate that something in the region of £362 million has been contributed by the Welsh Government to wider public spending on Welsh railways.

The Welsh Government has also invested £226 million in rail infrastructure enhancement projects, including using European Union structural funds. This has been vitally important, given that, in recent times—the recent control period—we have not seen the spend that has been required within the Wales route network. The Department for Transport, I am pleased to say, is now committed to develop the following cases to the next case of their pipeline process: they have determined that the north Wales coastline does require speed improvements, that line-speed improvements are necessary between Cardiff and Swansea, and that relief line upgrades between the Severn Tunnel junction and Cardiff are also required.

It's worth noting, however, Llywydd, that line-speed improvements on the Wrexham to Bidston line did not produce a strong case for progression. However, I'm very pleased to say that it's been agreed that improvements to this line will be considered and developed by Network Rail in the context of a wider scheme that considers conductivity all the way from Liverpool to Wrexham as part of the vision for the north Wales metro. Now, these are welcome commitments, Llywydd; these are very welcome commitments. And it's clear that these have to be taken forward at great pace and with much better engagement with the Welsh Government and local stakeholders.

In terms of other recent challenges that we faced on the route, Members will recall in the autumn of last year challenges due to the fact that we inherited a fleet without wheel-slide protection. Wheel-slide protection, I'm pleased to say, has now been applied to those trains that didn't have the systems in place. It's part of a £14-million investment in the existing fleet whilst those new trains are being built.

I'm also pleased to say that Transport for Wales and Network Rail have an excellent partnership and a fantastic degree of communication, which has not always been there, I think it's fair to say. And Network Rail, I'm pleased to say, has spent something in the region of £3 million dealing with vegetation along the railway lines. That's absolutely crucial. Specific lines in Wales faced challenges last year because of excessive vegetation.

I do believe that Transport for Wales has ramped up activity and expertise very rapidly, but, of course, as additional functions are transferred to the body, additional expertise and human resources will be required. At the start of the 15-year journey, we said that Transport for Wales would be recruiting scores of new people to key roles and, in addition, that Transport for Wales would require, as and when necessary, expertise to deliver additional functions. That's something that is ongoing and, of course, if and, we hope, when devolution of responsibilities transfer to Welsh Government, we would expect to see additional expertise acquired by Transport for Wales.

In terms of the core Valleys line asset transfer, well, the transfer is due to be completed imminently in the coming months, and the time frame for construction of the metro, I am pleased to say, remains in line with the vision outlined when we launched the franchise agreement. Trains are being built and services will commence as expected and as outlined in the original document published in the autumn of 2018. There are, of course, enormous challenges across the UK within the sector in acquiring rolling stock at this moment in time, but we're confident that we'll be able to meet the December timetable changes with the fleet that we have and with rolling stock that can be brought onto the tracks in time.

In terms of the stations that we would wish to see developed, I'm pleased to say that we've identified those stations within the actual document that we have published, but they will require agreement from UK Government to fund them. One of the big problems that we've had in recent times with the funding of infrastructure in the UK is that the Treasury Green Book essentially leads to investment being prioritised and channelled to those areas where there is the greatest intensity of populations. That means, by and large, the south-east of London. We wish to see a different model adopted across the UK and, certainly, within Wales, we are doing just that—trying to spread investment more equally across all regions in order to balance opportunities for growth and prosperity and to address imbalances in terms of wealth and employment opportunities.