Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:44 pm on 28 September 2021.
Last week, we learned that, as a result of the disastrous decision not to proceed with the electrification of the main railway line up to Swansea, we now have more pollution on these bi-mode trains that were foisted upon us than they have on the worst polluted streets in central London. This is a really serious issue for my constituents, as Cardiff Central Station is where the electrification grinds to a halt, so they are the biggest victims of this belching diesel pollution. And on top of that, this week, we learned that the decision made by the UK Government back in 2017—. We were given the sop that they were going to produce improvements to the railway lines in other ways, but they haven't even completed the outline business case, and that's nearly five years later. How are we going to be able to go ahead with the excellent recommendations of the Burns commission for the south-east Wales metro if we don't have any idea what the UK Government is proposing? So, I wondered if we could have a statement on how this dithering UK Government is affecting our plans for the south-east Wales metro, given that the spine of the whole business is the way we use the relief lines between Newport and Cardiff, and beyond.