Railway Infrastructure in Wales

Welsh Affairs Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 4 Dec 2020 Closed: 15 Nov 2021 Parliament page
We will look at where responsibility lies for the management of rail infrastructure in Wales, how funding is allocated to rail infrastructure projects across the UK and the share of investment Wales has received since 1994. We will also look at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the rail … Read more
14 Recommendations
5 Conclusions
1 Report
4 Oral sessions
1 Letter
4 Events
Activity timeline 7 events
22 Sep
2021
Report published
14 Jul
2021
Report published
11 Mar
2021
Oral evidence
25 Feb
2021
Oral evidence
11 Feb
2021
Oral evidence
9 Feb
2021
Correspondence
21 Jan
2021
Oral evidence
Oral evidence sessions 4 sessions
11 Mar 2021
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Oral evidence
Chris Heaton-Harris · Department for Transport David T C Davies · Wales Office
25 Feb 2021
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James Hooker · Welsh Government Ken Skates MS · Welsh Government Simon Jones · Welsh Government Sir Peter Hendy · Union Connectivity Review and Chair of Network Rail
11 Feb 2021
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Bill Kelly · Network Rail James Price · Transport for Wales Mark Hopwood · Great Western Railway Richard Scott · The West Coast Partnership Sarah Kelley · CrossCountry
21 Jan 2021
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Julian Glover · Department for Transport Professor Mark Barry · Cardiff University Professor Stuart Cole · University of South Wales
Title HC No. Published Items Response
First Report - Railway Infrastructure in Wales HC 438 14 Jul 2021 19 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
3 results
Clear
6 Conclusion Rejected
First Report - Railway Infrastruct…
Both the South East Wales Transport Commission and the Williams-Shapps White Paper make a powerful...
Both the South East Wales Transport Commission and the Williams-Shapps White Paper make a powerful case for the role rail, and in particular electrification, can play in the decarbonisation agenda. It underlines how short-sighted and regrettable Railway Infrastructure in Wales … Read more
Government Response
The government notes the conclusion, reiterates electrification's importance for decarbonisation, but defends its 2017 cancellation of the Cardiff-Swansea electrification due to cost and poor value for money, stating future decisions will be guided by Network Rail’s TDNS.
Wales Office
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7 Recommendation Rejected
First Report - Railway Infrastruct…
Bringing forward new proposals for greater connectivity between Swansea-Cardiff- Bristol, which would include completing electrification...
Bringing forward new proposals for greater connectivity between Swansea-Cardiff- Bristol, which would include completing electrification on the mainline between Cardiff and Swansea and a Swansea Bay Metro to integrate the public transport network westwards to Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire and feed … Read more
Government Response
The UK Government notes the recommendations but rejects the call for electrification between Cardiff and Swansea, citing previous cancellation due to high costs and poor value for money, and defers future electrification decisions to Network Rail's technical review. It does not commit to producing draft proposals for broader connectivity by the end of 2021.
Wales Office
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15 Recommendation Rejected
First Report - Railway Infrastruct…
HS2 is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the UK.
HS2 is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the UK. It is a project of unprecedented size and complexity and has already created several thousand jobs as part of a supply chain that spans the country, including … Read more
Government Response
The government notes the recommendation but rejects reclassifying HS2 or recalculating Wales' funding settlement, stating that heavy rail is a reserved matter for which it spends directly in Wales. It also asserts that Wales has already received a significant Barnett uplift due to HS2 spending.
Wales Office
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Government Response AI assessment · 19 of 14 classified
Accepted 8
Accepted in Part 5
Acknowledged 1
Deferred 1
Not Addressed 1
Rejected 3
Total 14 recs + 5 conclusions
Correspondence 1 letter
9 Feb 2021 To committee Letter from James Price, Chief Executive, Transport for Wales, re Future of Rail update, 8 February 21
Parliament page