RAIL FUNDING: Carmarthenshire MP leads Plaid push to put Welsh railways in Welsh hands as HS2 bill tops £100bn
A Carmarthenshire MP is leading a bid to hand control of Wales’ railways to Wales — as the cost of HS2, a project that will not lay a single mile of track here, climbs past £100bn.
Ann Davies, Plaid Cymru MP for Caerfyrddin and the party’s Westminster transport spokesperson, has tabled a series of amendments to the UK Government’s Railways Bill.
The amendments, to be debated as the Bill reaches its report stage in the House of Commons, call for rail infrastructure powers to be devolved to Wales — mirroring arrangements already in place in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
They also seek measures to address the historic underfunding of Welsh rail, and would require a strategy to improve railway investment in rural parts of Wales.
In rural west Wales, that campaign has long centred on reopening the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line — a £775m project backed by a major transport report earlier this year.
The intervention comes weeks after the cost of HS2 was confirmed at up to £102.7bn, with the first trains not expected until at least 2036.
Despite none of the high-speed line crossing the border, HS2 is classified as an “England and Wales” project — meaning Wales receives no Barnett consequential funding, while Scotland and Northern Ireland do.
Plaid Cymru argues Wales keeps losing out the same way on other major English rail schemes, with Northern Powerhouse Rail and the Oxford to Cambridge line also funded partly by Welsh taxpayers while delivering little or no direct benefit to Wales.
Ms Davies said the state of the Welsh network reflected decades of neglect.
“The current state of Wales’ rail network is simply unacceptable and reflects decades of underinvestment and structural unfairness that continue to hold our communities back,” she said.
“Plaid Cymru has long argued that Welsh rail should be in Welsh hands, with both the powers and funding needed to build a transport system that works for the whole of Wales.
“With the projected cost of HS2 now exceeding £100 billion, the case for a fair funding settlement and greater control over Wales’ transport system has never been more compelling.”
The UK Government’s Spending Review earmarked at least £445m for Welsh rail enhancements during the current spending period, including infrastructure improvements and funding for the Core Valley Lines — a package Welsh ministers say falls well short of addressing decades of underinvestment.
Last week, Plaid Cymru’s Deputy Minister for Transport Mark Hooper wrote to UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander calling for talks on rail funding, describing HS2 as a “long-standing symbol of unfair rail funding”.
On Tuesday, the minister ruled out a Newport M4 relief road, promising a “balanced package” of road, rail and bus measures across what he called one of the most constrained transport corridors in Wales.
The UK Government has also identified around £14bn of potential rail investment schemes in Wales — but that funding has not been formally allocated, and would need approval through future spending reviews.
Ms Davies has pressed ministers on when the programme will be delivered and whether the money is guaranteed. In response, the Department for Transport reiterated its commitment to the £445m package, but gave no timetable beyond saying the wider programme would be delivered “as soon as possible”.
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