The new minister responsible for transport in Wales, has been urged by a local AM to get to grips with the ‘obstacles’ preventing an hourly rail service on the Cambrian Line from going ahead.
Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, had an opportunity this week to question the Minister for Economy, Transport and Science, Edwina Hart AM, on the future of the hourly service from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and called on her to look afresh at the problems that have befallen the policy commitment, which should have been implemented in 2011.
Mr George highlighted the recent statistics published by the Office of the Rail Regulator which had shown a significant increase in passenger numbers using the Cambrian Line over the past decade and made the point that this was yet another piece of evidence which proved that a service was not just ‘desirable but was necessary’.
Responding, Mrs Hart said that she had been having discussions on this issue with Arriva Trains Wales, Network Rail and with the Office of Rail Regulation but she committed herself to do further work in this area to ensure the issues were made fully transparent for AMs.
Commenting, Mr George said:
"I welcome the Minister’s response that she is working on this issue.
"For someone who has a reputation for getting things done, I would urge her to strain every sinew to get this service up and running because the mid Wales region is in desperate need of it.
"The former Transport Minister prevaricated on this issue despite the Government having promised in its National Transport Plan that the extra trains would run in 2011.
"The Government’s current position is that the service seems vaguely due for roll-out in some form by the end of 2015 and for me that period of delay is totally unacceptable.
"I am pleased she is doing further work on this and I hope she can quickly remove the barriers to its implementation and bring forward the service with the upmost urgency."