Writer claims ‘Welsh set the example to the rest of UK’s railways’

Stephen Price

A guest writer for the Campaign for Better Transport has claimed that Wales ‘is quietly getting its transport policy right’ sharing his thoughts on ‘what the rest of the UK could learn from it’.

In a guest post, writer and broadcaster Christian Wolmar claims that: “Quietly and unobtrusively, Wales has become the transport example that much of the rest of Britain should follow.”

Christian Wolmar is a London-based journalist, author, railway historian and Labour Party campaigner. He is known for his commentary on transport; the author of over 20 books on the topic, he is a pundit on Britain’s railway industry and host of the Calling All Stations transport podcast.

Sidestepping the ongoing controversy over HS2, as well as the lack of connectivity particularly between north and south Wales, Wolmar claims that one of the chief reasons for Wales’ ‘success’ is the Wellbeing Act in 2015 that set goals which were not solely based on ‘growth’ but rather on wider societal aims such as equality and health.

He writes: “In transport terms, the Wellbeing Act has translated into developing a far more sustainable approach than in the rest of the UK with an overtly pro-public transport agenda. Moreover, Welsh politicians have been canny in putting forward a major rail scheme and brave in putting forward Measures such as the 20 MPH limit in most built up areas that has now been shown to save lives.

“As a result, the plan for M4 widening was ditched in the back end of the 2010s and an inquiry led by a senior civil servant was held in 2020 to look at alternative solutions to congestion in South Wales which were very much rooted in investing in the local rail network.

“Sadly some of the recommendations in that report have mouldered on the shelf because of the general squeeze on public spending but that has not stopped what is nothing short of a rail revolution. Wales used to be a backwater of England’s transport system, with the trains being run through a franchise designed to cater for the expected gentle decline of rail usage in the face of growing motorisation.

“Arriva Trains Wales became a byword for everything that was wrong about the franchising system, and while Arriva certainly did not shine, it was the very system that was at fault. Trains in a country like Wales will always need subsidy but franchising was designed to reduce as much as possible the amount needed to keep the system going.

“Enter Transport for Wales (TfW), created in 2016 by the Welsh Senedd to improve public transport across the country and crucially it obtained responsibility for letting the franchise for rail services. It also assumed responsibility for the old Valley Lines when the Arriva franchise ran out. After a protracted period of negotiation, TfW became both the owner of the infrastructure for these lines but also the operator. In other words, its structure became a model for what the Great British Railways is becoming, by being the integrated provider for rail services. By the end of next year, virtually every train running on Welsh rails will be new or just a few years old. Frequencies are also been increased on numerous routes, and many stations have had a complete makeover and been made accessible for people with disabilities.

“The biggest beneficiaries of the considerable investment worth around £2bn have been users of what was once the smallest franchise, the Cardiff Valley Lines or core lines as they are also known. Originally built as links between the mines and Cardiff Bay, transporting millions of tons of coal annually, they survived the Beeching cuts because the mines were still functioning in the 1960s but were completely neglected and all but forgotten about with stations and trains competing to be the most dilapidated.

“Now the most radical transformation since Clark Kent last burst out of his workday suit is happening on these lines. It is nowhere near finished as many trains are waiting to be introduced and timetables increased. However, already the ride I took to Taff’s Well from Cardiff Central was in a very European style new Stadler train that was a cut above anything that had ever run on these services previously. Indeed, all the core lines will be getting new rolling stock, either electric powered tram trains which one day may be used on new tracks designed for tram use, or tri mode stock which can be powered by electricity either directly or from batteries, and diesel. There are also a small fleet of diesel trains which may eventually be fitted with pantographs and electric power equipment.

“Since the investment programme after the takeover of the service by TfW, there have been double digit annual increases in ridership on the core lines which carry around 50 per cent of all passenger rail journeys in Wales even though they represent less than ten per cent of its mileage. Every facet of the service has been improved, notably the introduction of Pay As You Go ticketing which has not only made it easier for travellers, but also has saved money..”

HS2

The long-running row over rail funding for Wales took a new turn in January with a UK Labour Minister accusing Plaid Cymru’s deputy leader of lying when she claimed that Welsh taxpayers were paying for new rail infrastructure in England.

Delyth Jewell, who is currently a regional Plaid Cymru MS representing South Wales East, posted a message to social media stating: “Wales is owed billions from Westminster in rail funding. We pay towards HS2 & the Oxford-Cambridge line, yet our own railways are underfunded.

“With those billions, we could reopen local lines across Wales. When will this outrage end?”

Following Chancellor Rachel Reeves of an uplift in rail infrastructure funding for Wales, Guto Ifan of Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre wrote: “In the briefings prior to today’s Spending Review, the main headline for Wales in the Spending Review would be that Welsh railways would benefit from £445m, with a briefing that ‘this investment is more than Wales would have had so far had HS2 been Barnettised’

“In today’s statement, the Chancellor announced that this £445m would be spread over ten years: six years longer than the period of the spending review period itself. It includes £48m for enhancements to the Core Valley lines over four years, responsibility for which is devolved to the Welsh Government. In the Spending Review documentation, there are specific mentions of the Borderlands Line and the Cardiff to Bristol line. Beyond this, there is no substantial detail on the profile of this funding in each year of the Spending Review period.

“Given the rail enhancement spending currently committed to projects across England, this level of funding would fall well below a population share for Wales over the next decade.

“Any suggestion that this funding in any way compensates Wales for the loss incurred from HS2 is obviously unsustainable. It does not substantially change the overall picture of underfunding of Welsh rail infrastructure.

“In February 2025, the Welsh Government estimated that the loss in consequentials from HS2 being classified as an England and Wales project (rather than an England-only project) was £431m, from 2016-17 up to and including 2025-26.]

“Applying the Welsh Government’s methodology to the Department for Transport settlement announced today, we estimate that the total loss from HS2 between 2016-17 and 2029-30 now stands at approximately £845m. Over the course of the next four years, Wales will lose more than £100m in capital funding every year because of HS2’s designation as an England and Wales project, and the cumulative loss will continue to grow significantly at future Spending Reviews.”

The row intensified when, in December 2025, multiple prominent figures across Wales attacked a multi-billion-pound rail link between Liverpool and Hull being designated an “England and Wales” project by the UK Government.

Northern Powerhouse Rail, sometimes referred to unofficially as High Speed 3, is designed to enhance connections between major cities in the north of England, such as Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Hull.

Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesperson, Ben Lake MP says the way Wales is funded is “fundamentally broken”.

He said: “Plaid Cymru called on the Conservatives not to create another scandal when Northern Powerhouse Rail was first announced, and we’ve repeatedly urged Labour to fix it. Instead, Labour has chosen to continue with an arrangement that sees Wales losing out yet again.

“Westminster governments of all colours have hidden behind the ‘England-and-Wales’ label to deny Wales its fair share from rail projects that don’t include a single centimetre of track in Wales.

“If we’re serious about ending these scandals, heavy rail must be devolved to Wales so that England-only projects are treated appropriately and funding allocated fairly to projects in Wales.

“Welsh communities deserve investment, and our infrastructure is in desperate need of funding.”

The Welsh Government says it has continually been underfunded on rail investment.

A spokesperson said: “Despite securing nearly £6bn extra funding in our settlement from the UK Government this year, we have been clear that Wales has been underfunded in rail infrastructure investment.

“This historic underfunding has now been recognised by the UK Government and we will continue to work with them on ambitious projects to deliver further rail improvements across Wales.”

North south connectivity

North south transport links are also a common complaint for people who need to travel within Wales, another issue overlooked in Wolmar’s ‘transport example’ that Britain should follow.

Back in 2022, former First Minister Mark Drakeford said that that good links have “never been possible”.

Mark Drakeford was asked by Al Jazeera why people needed to travel out of Wales and into England in order to travel quickly between the north and south of the country.

The First Minister however replied that it was “in the end just the nature of our geography”.

He added at the time: “We’re a mountainous country. We’re a small country I sometimes read it said that if you flattened Wales out, we’d be maybe as big as France.

“It’s just that all our land is hilly up and down, and easy routes north and south have never been possible.

“So we manage. We have an effective train service, you can drive – it’s not the most straightforward of routes.

“But we’re used to it, it’s what we’ve dealt with for 2000 years.”

Christian Wolmar is a writer and broadcaster specialising in transport. View Christian’s substack here.

The full interview with James Price, Transport for Wales Chief Executive Officer, can be heard on Christian’s podcast, Calling All Stations, season 4 episode 2.