5. Will the Minister provide an update on the WelTAG process that is examining increased frequency on the Maesteg-Bridgend rail route? OQ56169

Increasing the frequency of services to Maesteg is a key component of the south Wales metro. Transport for Wales are now undertaking stage 2 of the WelTAG process to assess the options for increasing service frequency on this vitally important route.

Minister, can I welcome that response? I genuinely give my thanks to you, your officials, Network Rail, TfW and Bridgend council officers for their engagement on this vital matter of increasing the frequency of the service on the Maesteg to Bridgend and Cardiff line. It's something, as you know, I've been campaigning on relentlessly—probably to your frustration in some ways—since I arrived in the Senedd back in 2016. I'm like the squeaky wheel on the locomotive, demanding attention. We've completed the WelTAG stage, now on to WelTAG 2. So, can you today reconfirm clearly and loudly Welsh Government's commitment to give us those more trains on the Llynfi line to add to the welcome Sunday service that we gained last year, and to the improvements to carriage stock we've already had? And when the pandemic allows, will he meet with me and campaigners to discuss the welcome progress that we now see? 

I most certainly will, and can I thank Huw Irranca-Davies for the campaign that he's mounted on behalf of his constituents regarding this matter? We're now working on phase 2 of the WelTAG process to develop options further, and it's important this work continues to take place with the support and engagement of local stakeholders, and Huw Irranca-Davies has been hugely supportive of our efforts to bring together those stakeholders with Transport for Wales. I'll ask my officials to provide Huw Irranca-Davies with details of the five options being considered, and how the next stages of work will be taken forward by Transport for Wales. Obviously, I need to just state that rail infrastructure is not yet a devolved matter, and so we do need the UK Government to step up to the plate and to help us to do this work, and we expect Network Rail to deliver, and UK Government to fund a safe system for crossing at the railway at Pencoed, and we're working with them to ensure that we can make this happen and it is most certainly a priority of mine and this Government.