Rail service between Maesteg and Cardiff could get a boost
MAESTEG could be a step closer to securing a half-hourly peak time and Sunday rail service after years of campaigning.
In response to questioning in the Senedd from Ogmore AM Huw Irranca-Davies on Tuesday, Wales’ First Minister Carwyn Jones signalled his support for the additional services on the line from Maesteg to Cardiff.
Mr Irranca-Davies said he will now follow-up the positive response by meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure Ken Skates AM and Valleys Taskforce Minister Alun Davies AM to push the case for these rail improvements.
Mr Irranca-Davies, together with local councillors and other campaigners, has been leading the campaign for these improvements for some time.
He said: “We won’t give up on this, because on this busy commuter-line the need for peak-time half-hourly services and for a Sunday service is screamingly obvious.
“There is clear demand. There is a clear business case. We now need to take these matters forward.”
Mr Irranca-Davies, who travels regularly on the line to work, added: “People said we would never be able to re-open the Llanharan rail station, but with the support of local campaigners and Welsh Government Ministers we did it a few years ago, and it has been a tremendous success.
“We are equally determined to win the halfhourly and Sunday service so that passengers get the improvements they deserve.”
Mr Irranca-Davies first urged then-Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb to improve what he called “sub-standard services” in 2014 and urged Arriva and Network Rail to deliver the half-hourly rail service at peak times, which was put into the five-year transport plans back in 2010.