Council boss’ fears for Cardiff Central
Cardiff council leader Phil Bale has written to UK Transport Minister Chris Grayling, urging him to commit to investment in the city’s major rail station.
Councillor Bale warns him that current levels of passenger growth will make Cardiff Central station “unsafe” within seven years.
He expresses fears that officials in Westminster have “begun to question the transport case for investment” in Cardiff and urges the Conservative minister to intervene.
In the letter, Coun Bale writes: “For some time now, Network Rail has argued that passenger growth will render the station unsafe by 2024, a concern that can only be exacerbated by our recent commmitment to further growth in public transport through the Cardiff City Region City Deal Metro project.
“Following recent meetings, it seems UK Government officials are less convinced of the immediacy of the issue, in stark contrast to the views of Network Rail.”
Figures last year suggested that there were 12 million passenger journeys through Cardiff Central in the year to April 2016, six times higher than the next-biggest Welsh railway station, Cardiff Queen Street.
In contrast, London’s busiest station, Waterloo, saw nearly 100 million passenger journeys. Birmingham New Street saw just under 40 million and Manchester Picadilly 25 million.
Forecasts last year suggested that passenger numbers through Cardiff Central could hit 22 million by 2023 and 32 million by 2043.
Coun Bale is releasing the letter at a meeting of Cardiff council’s ruling cabinet today.
The meeting will consider papers approving the demolition of St David’s House, the office block on the north side of Wood Street in Central Square. Councillors are being asked to approve the granting of a lease to enable the development of 270,000 sq ft of offices and a small public square on the site.
However, Coun Bale tells Mr Grayling in the letter that, despite the interest in developing Central Square, commercial contributions to any expansion of Cardiff Central can only be proportionate to property values in the city, which are much lower than in London.
He writes: “This suggests a major mismatch between what will be needed to modernise Cardiff Central and what can be delivered commercially.”
Coun Bale adds that the council is now working with the Welsh Government and other partners to develop a cost plan based on the transport case for developing stations.
Network Rail has spent £300m upgrading signalling around Cardiff Central to increase capacity, which has involved creating a new platform at the station.
On a visit to Cardiff last year, Mr Grayling insisted that this investment showed the UK Government’s commitment to rail services in Wales.
He said at the time: “We have just spent hundreds of millions on giving Cardiff the most modern signalling in the country and what you’re seeing at the station is a huge project that’s just been finished.
“What Cardiff has got, nowhere else in the UK has got.”
The Conservative Spring Forum 2017 starts in Cardiff tomorrow.