Plaid AM Wants Action on Metro System

Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales West, Dr Dai Lloyd has called on the Welsh Government to work with the UK Government to ensure that plans for a Swansea Bay Metro come to fruition.

Following last week’s announcement by the Secretary of State for Wales, Alun Cairns, that the UK Government is looking to develop a West Wales Parkway railway station at Felindre, Dr Lloyd has called for the two governments to work with each other to ensure that the West Wales Parkway aligns with plans to develop a Swansea Bay Metro.

Dr. Lloyd raised the issue at the Assembly today, and called on the Transport Minister to bring forward a statement on the issue.

Dr Lloyd stated:

“The Welsh Government has been very quiet over the past week since the Welsh Secretary stated that he was looking to deliver the West Wales Parkway.

“As with most issues, Wales has not had a fair deal from the British Government in terms of rail funding. We have 11% of the network but receive only 1.5% of the funding.

“While the West Wales Parkway is welcome and could play a key role in reducing congestion along the M4 around Swansea and Port Talbot, and the main commuter arteries into Swansea, we now need to see Welsh and UK Governments working together to actually deliver on the wider challenge of creating a quality transport system for the whole of the region.”

The proposed metro project includes a Swansea parkway station at land adjacent to the Felindre Business Park, which will see journey times to Cardiff and London from the West reduced by around 15 minutes.

Dr. Lloyd added:

“The cut in journey times between the West and Cardiff and London is excellent news, but we must ensure that services to Neath and Swansea are protected.

“We also need to develop a Metro system which benefits all of the Swansea Bay region. We need to see an improvement in the North to South links and not just East to West. Lines such as the Amman-Tawe should be reopened to passengers, as could the Neath Valley line, which used to run from Neath to Aberdare. And of course improving transport links to and from the Dulais and Afan Valleys.”

“South West Wales is crying out for investment in public transport and we cannot afford to be let down and left behind any longer.”

“It is imperative that the Welsh Government sets out its thinking on this as a matter of urgency.”