3. Will the Minister provide an update on the roll-out of new trains for the Rhondda as part of the new rail franchise? OAQ54419

Yes, delighted to do so, because Transport for Wales will introduce new light-rail metro vehicles, or tram trains, on the Rhondda line from 2022. These will include free onboard Wi-Fi, power sockets, electronic passenger information, and they'll include air conditioning and increased storage capacity for bikes.

But, so far, no toilets. Minister, I wish I didn't have to keep raising the train service in Wales with you, but things are getting worse. Services are being taken off the timetable; carriages are being taken off peak-time services on the Valleys lines. Now, I catch the train regularly and the peak-time experience is more often than not uncomfortable and bordering on unsafe. This is not just my view; it's the view of the train guards that are tasked with placating angry passengers and trying to maintain safety. It's an unacceptable situation that shows no sign of being solved within the next two months either, as rolling stock will not come on stream until early December.

I had a message just this morning from a mother whose child was left stranded on a station and ended up being late for school because of the overcrowding. Minister, someone is going to get hurt unless this situation is resolved. Do you share my concerns about these overcrowding issues, and if not, why not? And what do you have to say to those passengers who have to continue to endure these appalling conditions for at least another two months? And can you note, Minister, I'm asking you here about trains and not stations? 

Of course I share the concerns of passengers, of course I do, but let me give the Member just some detail about what's going to be coming very soon—yes, in December, but that's the soonest that we can get the new rolling stock on the lines with the December timetable change.

You've been in charge of the railways a long time now.

Let me give some facts and figures to the Member that she can no doubt, and will no doubt, promote to the media and champion. First of all, by the end of 2022, there are going to be 400 more seats on services from Treherbert to Cardiff in the morning peak, and 300 more seats from Cardiff to Treherbert in the evening peak. Journey times are going to reduce from one hour to 50 minutes, and by December—the end of December—we will have increased capacity by 10 per cent through the introduction of additional rolling stock, which is incredibly hard to source right now, given the state of the industry across the UK and, indeed, further afield.

But the Member raises the important question of toilets on tram trains. You know, you as leader of Plaid Cymru made a statement in support of tram trains. You said that, 

'Plaid Cymru has put forward an exciting vision for the future of Wales’ transport infrastructure, that includes investing in new light rail networks'.

Your economy and transport spokesperson has done so. 

Not without toilets though. You've still got to have toilets on them. 

Your current leader has talked about the need for light-rail tram trains. Can you identify—? Leanne Wood, can you identify a single light-rail tram-train on-street system on the planet that has accessible—?

Germany. Munich.

Germany and Munich. Yes, right, Germany and Munich—

I've got photographs on my phone. Do you want to see them?

Their trams would not be legal here because of the persons with reduced mobility compliance. They have to have toilets that can be accessible by disabled people. Are you saying that you would run tram-trains in Wales that disabled people could not access? Because that is shameful, if that's your position.

They're not going to have toilets, full stop, though. Disabled—

Surely, when you said that tram-trains should be operating in Wales, you didn't understand what they actually were. That is surely the position, because no single tram-train is currently available with disabled access toilets on board.

We are introducing significant investment so that disabled people are able to access, step-free, every single station on the metro network—every single one. And we are introducing a huge amount of investment to ensure that we have universally accessible toilets at stations within the metro area. Furthermore, Llywydd, it should be noted, because I think Mark Barry got it absolutely right this morning in the Western Mail when he said that there is misrepresentation of this situation concerning toilets. It should be noted that every single new train—more than a 110 of them—every single train on the Wales and borders franchise, and on those metro lines that won't be operating tram-trains, will have fully compliant accessible toilets.

What's important, again, in a follow-up to my first question to you about buses, is the overall experience when it comes to the rail network. When I was in an earlier mode of a transport spokesman for the Conservative group, I always remember speaking to Network Rail, saying that a lot of the CCTV cameras that sit in stations are not court compatible, i.e. they cannot be used as evidence against vandalism or any other anti-social behaviour. Can you give a commitment today, Minister, that any CCTV upgrades—and I hope there'll be many CCTV upgrades on stations—will be court compatible, so that if vandalism or anti-social activity does happen at our stations, people will feel the full force of the law and have the consequences?

I'll give that undertaking, as part of the £194 million station upgrade. We are keenly looking at improved security, and as part of that we're going to be introducing more CCTV facilities that can be utilised by the police and court prosecutions. But I'll happily provide more information to the Member.