Support our Nation today - please donate here
News

Metro projects ‘likely’ won’t happen if UK and Welsh governments don’t agree

12 Jul 2021 5 minute read
Transport for Wales train. Picture by Jeremy Segrott (CC BY 2.0).

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

Planned metro projects in Wales will “likely struggle to be delivered” if the UK and Welsh governments can’t agree, a transport expert has warned.

Academic and consultant Professor Mark Barry said there needed to be “some give and take on both sides” during a discussion about the Swansea Bay and West Wales Metro.

He also suggested that the far-reaching proposals to improve train and bus services in the south west of Wales must have regional backing to help persuade central Government to fund them.

Prof Barry said if the Welsh Government identified, for example, £3 billion to £3.5 billion of public transport improvements, then around £1.5 billion of that would need to come from Network Rail via the UK Government.

Prof Barry  said: “Without such agreement, and some give and take on both sides, much of what is being proposed and developed through TfW all over Wales will likely struggle to be delivered.”

Work has been going on in the background to develop a better integrated transport network in Neath Port Talbot, Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.

There are three broad themes to this Swansea Bay and West Wales Metro concept: more train services on the South Wales Main Line, including faster journey times to Swansea and Pembrokeshire; new rail services between Pontarddulais and Swansea – via Neath – and new services between Swansea and Burry Port, Carmarthenshire; plus station improvements and improved local connectivity.

A draft outline business case for specific improvements is due to be completed shortly.

Ben George, of Transport for Wales (TfW), and Professor Barry gave an update to leaders of the Swansea Bay City Region on July 8.

Prof Barry urged leaders to support the Metro proposals and work with regional leaders in the south and the north of Wales, who are developing Metro transport projects of their own.

“The funding will come from the Treasury, and if the Treasury are getting the message from whatever source they are dealing with in Wales that this is an important, or one of the most important projects, it’s more likely to get traction,” said Prof Barry. “This is the reality.”

‘Differing’ 

Differing priorities have been voiced within the Swansea Bay and West Wales area. Leaders in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire prioritise faster and more frequent main line services to West Wales, whereas Swansea and Neath Port Talbot chiefs have voiced concern about some trains potentially bypassing their city and town centres en route to the west.

Mr George said the Metro team was building up a picture of rail capacity in the west of the region and, using mobile phone data, passenger usage.

He said he was optimistic about “tangible options” when the outline base case was published, subject to satisfactory business cases.

These include new passenger rail services on freight lines in the Swansea and surrounding area, and better service frequency between Carmarthen and West Wales. Trains are also due to stop at a re-opened St Clears rail station in Carmarthenshire from 2024 onwards.

Mr George said he and his colleagues would need to demonstrate “explicit buy-in and support” from the region when discussions were held with UK Government and Welsh Government officials.

He said he was pleased the feedback from a recent consultation on the Swansea Bay and West Wales Metro project, which elicited more than 600 responses, was broadly supportive.

‘Decarbonising’ 

Prof Barry also said he felt the Welsh Government was “grappling” with how to achieve its aim of decarbonising buses and taxis by 2028.

Decarbonisation, he said, was the “elephant in the room”.

He added: “It is non-trivial and requires some very tough decisions to be made politically to deliver the (transport) mode shift required.

“The expectation must be that we have a multi-billion pound programme of enhancements in rail and bus in the next 10 to 15 years to get anywhere near those decarbonisation targets.”

A more integrated bus system, said Prof Barry, often relied on better rail services.

Carmarthenshire Council leader Emlyn Dole, who chaired the Swansea Bay City Region joint committee meeting, said improved rail journey times between Swansea and West Wales was “front and centre for us” – a view echoed by Pembrokeshire Council leader David Simpson.

Mr George said the business case for expenditure the further west you went was harder due to its smaller catchment area, but he stressed to anyone listening that they shouldn’t read too much into that.

The draft outline business case, he said, had “some really good improvements for the whole region”.

Neath Port Talbot Council leader Ted Latham described the Swansea Bay and West Wales Metro as a “no-brainer” which had to go ahead.

Swansea Council chief executive Phil Roberts said his concern was that dialogue between the three Metro regions in Wales was not currently happening.

Mr Roberts said it would be “catastrophic” if the regions developed their own transport schemes in isolation.


Support our Nation today

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
3 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Erisian
Erisian
2 years ago

Well, no Metro for us unless we come to heel and worship BJ’s perverse vision of the ‘Union’ then!

Bruce
Bruce
2 years ago

No doubt Simon Hart will ensure this gets derailed (pardon the pun) and then blame the Welsh Government for it. Typical Tory dirty tricks.

David Smith
David Smith
2 years ago

Infrastructure is a reserved matter is it not? Reserved matter, outside the remit of the WG, ergo to be funded from outside its budget.

Our Supporters

All information provided to Nation.Cymru will be handled sensitively and within the boundaries of the Data Protection Act 2018.