Written - Cambrian Railway And Concessionary Fares On Rural Railways

I was delighted to make a pre-recorded speech to the Cambrian Coast Railway Liaison Committee at their meeting at Porthmadog on 24 November.  This committee is a group of locally elected members and other railway stakeholders which meets regularly to discuss issues relating to their railway.  It is chaired by Councillor Trevor Roberts, Chairman of the TAITH, the local north Wales transport consortium.  Assembly Members and Members of Parliament are invited and I am informed that Lisa Francis AM was in attendance last Friday.  Members of the Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth Railway Liaison Committee, including its Chair, Councillor Mansel Williams of Shrewsbury and Atcham Council were also present.

In my speech I was delighted to be able to do three things:
Firstly, introduce the initial findings of Network Rail’s detailed feasibility study on options for improving the infrastructure and services on the Cambrian Mainline between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury.  There has been a long-standing aspiration for an improvement of the two hourly services to hourly.  The following was included in my Written Cabinet Statement of 3 October 2006 which was the written response of the Assembly Government to the Rail Infrastructure and Improved Passenger Service Committee Report.   I quote

• “The Assembly Government has commissioned Network Rail to carry out a feasibility study into increasing the number of passing loops to enable a more frequent service between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth (from every 2 hours to every hour). The study is taking place in parallel with the separate project, funded by Network Rail, to deliver new signalling known as ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System).  The Assembly Government has facilitated a number of public stakeholder consultation meetings for the purpose of generating ideas and feedback and there has been a high level of stakeholder engagement in this exercise. Consideration is being given to the travel patterns of staff working at the Assembly Government offices at Newtown and Aberystwyth.”

• In summer 2006, the Assembly Government funded additional rolling stock for the Cambrian Line to relieve overcrowding.”

The meeting last Friday was one of the continuing series of detailed stakeholder engagements on the options for service improvements.  It is a necessary part of enabling me to take stakeholder views into account as this work is progressing.  There will next be a further stage of feasibility study undertaken by Network Rail to progress the preferred options further and continuing detailed discussion with stakeholders.  I am pleased to say that I have been informed that both the Cambrian Coast Railway Liaison Committee and the Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth Railway Liaison Committee members present on 24 November passed an unanimous resolution of support for the preferred option.  This was for improved passing loops and a workable regular hourly pattern timetable on the mainline between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury which would benefit current performance levels and also improve journey times between the south and north sections of the Cambrian Coast railway through improved connections.  Journey opportunities east of Shrewsbury would also be considerably improved.  The infrastructure improvements, which would facilitate the hourly service, would also be of considerable benefit to performance under the current two hourly service if there were to be an interim period between their provision and the eventual introduction of an hourly service.

I have not yet taken a formal decision to commit funding to either the infrastructure or operational costs involved in the additional service frequency.  This would not be appropriate until the next detailed stages of feasibility study are concluded.  But my commitment to improving the railway and specifically the Cambrian Line are widely known. I take pride in it and in the fact that we are proceeding through the mechanism of detailed stakeholder engagement.  On the Cambrian improvements this has resulted in a large number of representations, including a large petition from students at Aberystwyth University.  All representations, except one from a person who lives next to the railway, have been supportive.

The second issue, which I was delighted to include in my speech, was to confirm that Arriva Trains Wales has submitted a bid for ‘Access for All’ match funding to the Department of Transport.   This includes for the Cambrian line partnership proposals to improve the stepping height at Aberdyfi – a long standing issue which was raised in TAITH’s evidence to the Rail Infrastructure and Improved Passenger Service Committee – and to improve lift and foot access to Shrewsbury Station’s Platform 3.  Shrewsbury platform 3 is to benefit from signalling and operational improvements being funded by Network Rail which will benefit services arriving from/departing to the west, including the Cambrian line.   Over 1 million passengers board or leave Arriva trains at Shrewsbury annually.  The partnership on these ‘Access for All’ proposals includes Network Rail, Arriva Trains Wales the Cambrian Railway Partnership and Shropshire Council.  This work has also been signalled throughout the stakeholder engagement sessions on Cambrian Line improvements and also subject to widespread support.  I believe that the TAITH and TraCC (the mid Wales transport consortium) are proposing to write formally in support of them.

The third issue I was delighted to mention in my speech was that the Assembly Government will fully support provision of free concessionary bus pass travel on certain railways in the rural areas where bus services are less frequent and accessible than rail services. This is an issue that has been raised regularly with me by local authorities and community transport groups.
This can happen under the fares flexibility available under Community Railway designation, if this is the priority of the local communities involved in the Community Railway.  This arrangement follows the work of a partnership that includes the Assembly Government, Arriva, the TAITH and TraCC consortia, and the community rail partnerships.

Community Rail designation is an initiative across England and Wales, led by the Community Rail team within the Department of Transport.  The former Strategic Rail Authority launched the Community Rail Development Strategy in November 2004.  This followed an extensive consultation exercise undertaken by the SRA in February 2004.

I have supported Community Rail designation since the original consultation undertaken by the SRA.  This is on the basis that designation should be stakeholder-led and there should be a clear view of and plan to achieve benefits and improvements.  The Assembly Government consultation response was noted in the Strategy document in November 2004, as was the fact that the first tranche of designations would take place on rural railways in England.  Designation in Wales was always reserved for a second tranche of designations and partnership work towards this began earlier this year.  

The Heart of Wales Line Forum and the Conwy Valley Line Development Partnership aim to submit prospectuses seeking designation to the Department for Transport Community Rail Team shortly. Following this, I shall write to local Assembly Members, and the Secretary of State shall write to local MPs, notifying them that formal consultation on the Community Rail designation is to commence.  What I have done, following the partnership work on this to which I have referred, is announce that that the Assembly Government will fully support provision of free concessionary bus pass travel on certain railways in the rural areas.  This can happen under the fares flexibility available under Community Railway designation, if this is the priority of the local communities involved in the Community Railway.

There will be pilot proposals for community rail designation on the Heart of Wales Line and the Conwy Valley Line.  Designation on these two lines could take place from early 2007.  If these pilots are successful the Assembly Government would look to extend them next to the Cambrian Coast, Borderlands (Wrexham-Bidston) and Shrewsbury-Chester lines.

Concessionary fares bus pass travel on the rural railways was raised by Lisa Francis during First Minister’s Questions on 24 October and Rhodri Morgan wrote to Lisa in detail on my intentions on this on 1 November.  I understand that that letter will shortly be published.