Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:45 pm on 28 September 2021.
Thank you. I absolutely share your dismay to see that those levels of onboard nitrogen dioxide were the highest on GWR. I think it's absolutely a direct consequence of the UK Government stopping electrification short of Cardiff, rather than electrifying the whole line. I was looking at some figures around electrification, and if there's any other example that the UK Government absolutely let Wales down: England, 41 per cent of the track's electrified; Scotland, 25 per cent of the track is electrified; and Wales, only 2 per cent of the track is currently electrified.
So, the Welsh Government's really doing its bit on our infrastructure, but we really need the UK Government to step up and complete electrification between Cardiff and Swansea as a starting point, and then commit to a rolling programme of electrification across Wales, and that includes the north Wales coastline, so that we can have those electric services. I think the best way, really, would be for them to devolve rail infrastructure to us, but, of course, with a fair funding settlement so that we can prioritise and deliver the decarbonisation of our rail services in Wales.