Rail Funding Robbery Could Have Electrified South Wales Line

The decision to classify ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail’, a new high-speed rail line in the North of England as a ‘Wales and England project’ means Wales will miss out on around £1 billion in funding it could have spent on transport projects in Wales.

This comes on the back of the Conservatives also classing HS2, a line connecting London to Birmingham and Manchester as ‘Wales and England’ which is thought to have deprived Wales of around £5 billion in funding.

Meanwhile, several years ago, the Conservative Party cancelled the electrification of the South Wales rail line to Swansea because the £433 million cost was ‘too much’.

This means that trains from Cardiff onwards have to travel at a slower speed and on diesel rather than electric, contributing to air pollution in the region.

These decisions by the Conservative Party only go to demonstrate that they are not in the slightest bit interested in improving life in Wales or in helping to grow the regional economy in Swansea and South West Wales.

With Welsh Labour also failing at many hurdles, including plans to cut bus services, Wales is in desperate need of a serious opposition party that will fight for investment in the region, in the absence of a Conservative Party that cares about the region, the Welsh Liberal Democrats can and will take up that mantle.