Transport for Wales boss James Price has laid out how he thinks the UK Government’s plan to create a new body to run rail services in the UK – Great British Railways – will impact Wales.
The UK Government wants the new body to take over both the running of services and the maintenance of the UK’s rail network, which is says will make everything “simpler and better for everyone” via a single state-owned railway company.
The UK Government is expected to announce details of its Great British Railways plan this year. Wales does not have full devolution of rail infrastructure but the Welsh Government does run the Core Valley Lines network and oversees the Transport for Wales franchise so there are questions about how it will work in Wales.
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There are calls for rail to be fully devolved to Wales. Professor Stuart Cole has said Wales is currently “at the bottom of the pile” while Cardiff University Professor Mark Barry agrees, saying the Welsh Government is repeating its biggest ever mistake by not seeking full devolution of rail.
The UK Government has recently stated that railways in Wales are underfunded but has not given any details of how it would fund any projects in Wales nor does it make any promise in providing funding for the rail network in Wales that is equivalent to the amount spent per person in England.
WalesOnline is currently running a campaign to lobby for fair funding for the railways in Wales. The UK Labour Government has two chances this year to change the principles underpinning how rail decisions and funding are decided in the UK. They are firstly the multi-year spending review that Rachel Reeves’ Treasury is conducting and secondly the major bit of rail legislation – known as The Railways Bill – that the new government has committed to bring forward to overhaul the country’s railways through the creation of a new body called Great British Railways. You can read more on that here.
-Credit:Marc White / WalesOnline
Today Transport for Wales (TfW) chief executive James Price laid out his preference for how Transport for Wales will fit into Great British Railways. He said Great British Railways would remain in charge of track maintenance, and be accountable to TfW for their day to day activity, who are then, in turn, be accountable to the Welsh and UK Governments.
Mr Price said: “My personal and professional view are we need to try get the benefits of a more vertically integrated railway, remembering that we have a completely vertically integrated railway on the CVL lines where we own and operate them without giving up any of the benefits of the devolution we already have.”
He said they are meeting with Great British Railways, UK Government and Welsh Government about a preferred approach. “That is, in essence, TfW retaining operation of all its services, Network Rail rebranded GBR Cymru continuing to have the responsibility for running infrastructure but by partnering much more closely in the middle and sharing budget lines and profit and loss lines so we can absolutely see the system as a whole and plan the system as a whole. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
“So, for example, when maintenance is being planned, we plan it so it has the lowest possible cost to the taxpayers and highest possible benefit to the user of the service. That was never really possible when you had a whole number of private sector companies involved all trying to gain the system, in theory it ought to be possible now it is public sector.
“The one thing we need to do is recognise that it’s highly likely, if this is going to be set up for the long term which is what it should be, there will be different colours of government in different parts of the UK and at a local level and CJC level and whatever we set up needs to be capable of withstanding the obvious political tensions that will happen as part of that.”
Mr Price was also asked about reports Rachel Reeves will freeze all infrastructure with the exception of three English schemes. You can read about that here.
He responds that: “I think for me, with GBR conversations should be the people who are operationally involved in running the services because they’re the people who know what they’re doing. The government to government conversations should be about setting the strategic direction and holding to account those running the service, ie. TfW and GBR in the future.
“However we have an interest in funding available and what we can do, and on that, the Welsh Government and UK Government have been working closely and we have been involved in briefing and helping get to a position where the UK Government has said, for the first time ever, that Wales has been underfunded in the past and also pointed to the future, subject to the spending review that more money could be freed up.
“My interpretation, and I know nothing, is a statement that says ‘money is tight, we can’t spend anything on rail’ and can on aggregate be true alongside a statement that says Wales has been historically underfunded and we need to find some funding.
“Actually, even if Wales was fully funded that would only ever be 5% of the total, so I think it can be that both statements are true.”