Councillors back call for more rail funding and reopening of line

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

A call for more rail investment in west Wales, including the reopening of a line closed to passengers over 70 years ago, received unanimous backing from Carmarthenshire councillors.

They found common ground in a motion which claimed Wales wasn’t getting its rightful share of rail funding and expressed concerns that the south-east and north of the country were snaffling most of what was coming.

It reiterated previous calls for a new station at Whitland, the reopening of the Amman Valley line, and said only the devolution of railways would enable Wales to get its share of funding via major schemes such as HS2.

The motion said the £445 million of rail investment pledged for Wales over 10 years by Chancellor Rachel Reeves was a fraction of what it should get via the England-only HS2.

‘Under-funded’

Cllr Alun Lenny, who submitted the motion with his Plaid cabinet colleague Cllr Glynog Davies, said rail was “desperately under-funded” in west Wales with trains “too often cancelled” and Wales having the highest train cancellation rates in the UK.

Cllr Davies recalled Brynamman having two Amman Valley line stations in the past – one for the line to Llanelli, the other for the line to Swansea – before everything closed in 1964. Reopening the Amman Valley line, he said, would provide an option to driving along narrow village roads. “Our governments have to consider this seriously,” he said.

Labour councillor Kevin Madge said the Westminster Government was providing “record” capital funding and that more rail investment was happening. He said he had been campaigning for years about the Amman Valley line, but also cautioned that there wasn’t “a pot of gold”.

Cllr Sean Rees, independent unaffiliated, claimed Wales received 2% of total UK rail investment despite having 10% of its railways. “The further west you go in Wales the worse it gets,” he said.

Cllr Rees said poor-quality rail provision limited economic, tourism, education and healthcare opportunities . “This is not asking for favours, it’s about asking for fairness,” he said.

Plaid councillor Colin Evans said he believed services on a reopened Amman Valley line would be well used and bring in “badly-needed revenue” to the area. He also applauded the efforts of the Amman Valley Railway Society.

Investment

Labour opposition group leader, Cllr Deryk Cundy, said more than £800 million has been invested in new trains by the Welsh Government and that he believed more funding could be secured in due course. It was time though, he said, for investment to reach west Wales. “I do believe we will be able to get this funding which we were not able to get previously,” he said.

Plaid councillor Handel Davies said he felt rail had been neglected for decades and contrasted this to electrified trains in Europe which arrived on time and “travel distances quickly without issue”.

The council will now write to Wales’s Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Ken Skates, asking for greater clarity and accelerated investment in rail infrastructure in west Wales as a matter of urgency. The letter will also express support for the devolution of railways to Wales.

Mr Skates said Labour was committed to improving public transport across Wales. “We have invested £800 million on new trains delivering more capacity and higher quality journeys for passengers travelling across Wales and the borders,” he said.

“Transport for Wales is reinstating the fifth train on the Heart of Wales Line, and we have supported the extension of GWR trains from London to Carmarthen.”

Improvements 

He added: “We have been clear and consistent in our position that Wales has been underfunded in rail infrastructure investment, which has now been recognised by the UK Government. We will continue to work with them on an ambitious pipeline of improvements to deliver improvements across Wales.”

Last November Transport for Wales said early-stage development work for a station at St Clears had taken place and could progress in the future if funding became available.

The UK Government said priorities for rail investment throughout Wales were discussed and agreed with the Welsh Government and Transport for Wales via the Wales Rail Board.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “Last year we allocated £1.9 billion to Wales up until 2029, which will be used to improve rail performance and invest in areas that matter most to passengers and freight customers.

“We are committed to boosting growth and connectivity, working closely with the Welsh Government in making decisions on rail services that work best for its communities, which is why we also provided a further £445 million to enhance Welsh railways and help unlock Wales’ economic potential.”