5. What impact will the recommendations of the report One Region, One Network, One Ticket by the South East Wales Transport Commissioner have on rail services in Islwyn? OQ56017

We warmly welcome the direction of travel in the report and we are considering the recommendations in detail. Improvements to the Ebbw Vale line need to be part of the package of improvements and enhancements to rail infrastructure right across the region.

The Welsh Labour Government has long been in the vanguard of transforming public transport in Islwyn. In 2008, the Welsh Labour Government reopened the Ebbw Vale to Cardiff passenger railway service that services the communities of Islwyn at Crosskeys, Newbridge. and Risca and Pontymister. It has proven to be one of the great transport success stories of devolution in Wales, so I am glad to see that Lord Burns recommends, as the Minister has already commented in this Chamber, for this line to now include an hourly service to serve my constituents and the city of Newport as well. You've rightly identified, Minister, that the type of trips filling up this road and causing congestion are ones that could readily be served by public transport, if it were competitive on cost, journey time and convenience. So, what actions can the Welsh Government take to further ensure that the cost of rail journeys is kept low, journey times are fast and that there is a regular, convenient service for my constituents in Islwyn?

Firstly, on the cost point, from January, TfW announced—January of this year—that tickets were being reduced by a percentage, which has been going against trend. Clearly, the real answer to affordable fares over time is to make sure we have a successful public transport system that is heavily used, and that we have ongoing investment in it. In terms of the Ebbw Vale line, as the Member will know, we have developed a plan through TfW for an additional hourly service to operate between Crosskeys and Newport from December next year, and we are pursuing UK funding to help us to extend that. We've submitted a bid to the UK Government's Restoring your Railway accelerated ideas fund to secure funding to progress the work on reopening the Abertillery spur, so we are now awaiting a decision on that particular application. Rail infrastructure remains a non-devolved subject, and as we've said before, we have not been getting our population share of railway infrastructure. There is a shortfall of some £5 billion that has been preventing us from pursuing the type of investments that Rhianon Passmore is rightly pushing us to do.