QUESTIONS have been raised by Senedd members over the reliability of a key commuter line in Gwent amid an alleged increase in train cancellations.
Peredur Owen Griffiths, the Senedd Member for South Wales Central and the Plaid Cymru spokesperson for Transport, has described the alleged jump in in train cancellations on the Ebbw Vale line as “alarming” and has called on the Labour Cabinet Secretary to address the issue urgently.
The Senedd Member for South Wales Central was speaking after he uncovered figures for train cancellations over the previous six years.
The data shows that in the financial year of 2024/25 (to date) 4.5% of train services have been cancelled. By way of comparison, 2.9% of services on the Ebbw Vale line were cancelled in 2023/24.
If you compare the most recent figures to the number of cancellations in 2020/21 when 0.8% of services were cancelled, the difference is starker.
Peredur said: “I was asked to look into the performance of the Ebbw Vale line by a constituent following a recent street surgery in the Rogerstone area.
“This constituent expressed his frustration with the reliability of the service as his son relies on it to get to and from work in Cardiff and has often been let down.
“It is clear from the figures that there have been an unacceptable number of cancellations on the line in recent times. On a line like the Ebbw Vale line – which is not as frequent as other areas – a cancelled service can very well mean the difference between being late for work or on time.
“Despite a large injection of cash for the trains in Wales, there has been an alarming deterioration in performance on this key passenger line in my region.
“For the sake of people in Gwent who rely on this service, the Labour Cabinet Secretary must get a grip of the situation and improve the reliability of the service.
“If the Government is serious about encouraging people to use public transport, they must provide a service that can be relied upon.”
A spokesperson for Transport for Wales said: “The number of cancellations on the Ebbw Vale route remains in line with the UK industry average but has been higher than expected in recent months due to a number of factors including a shortage of available trains and weather-related incidents which have impacted the Wales and Borders network.
“Significant investment by the Welsh Government, Network Rail and the local authority enabled us to double the service frequency on the line in early 2024 and this major increase in services should be taken in account when comparing figures from previous years.
“We have already introduced brand-new trains, made in Newport, to the Ebbw Vale line and as more of our £800m fleet of new trains come into service across the Wales and Borders network over the next 18 months we expect to see further improvements in reliability and punctuality.”