Economic growth derailed after Wales cheated over rail works
Wales faces a £1.7bn cut in rail investment over the next five years. Meanwhile, £56bn is spent on a high-speed line in England. We deserve better, says Geraint Davies MP
YOU could buy many things with £1.7bn – Swansea City’s entire football squad could be bought 15 times over. You could buy 500,000 jobseeker’s allowances for a year. You could revolutionise south Wales’ rail network. Or you could build a measly four miles of track for the government’s HS2 project.
This is important because last week Network Rail announced that Wales would receive £1bn less than our fair share of investment in the next five years.
This follows the government’s failure to fulfil its £700m pledge to electrify the railways as far as Swansea.
Wales has 6% of the UK’s rail-track and 5% of the population.
This should mean that we receive between £2.4bn and £2.9bn of the £48bn budget that the government allocates to Network Rail.
Instead we have been shortchanged in that plan by more than £1bn, and the money is being spent on English infrastructure projects.
HS2 in England will cost £56bn and KPMG research has shown that this will cost south Wales 20,000 jobs.
West Wales and the Valleys are not only the poorest region in the UK, but in north-western Europe.
If our government in Westminster is serious about post-Brexit opportunities, it could begin by investing in the infrastructure and connectivity which the Welsh economy badly needs.
Instead the government has consistently under-funded Welsh infrastructure.
First they broke their £700m promise to rail electrification, and now Network Rail’s five-year plan enormously short-changes us once again.
This will only increase the damage already caused by Brexit – estimated at a 10% drop in economic growth in Wales.
At this vulnerable point in the UK’s poorest region the government should be investing in Wales, not chronically underfunding our infrastructure.
We need strategic investment in our railways to invigorate the Welsh economy and mitigate the disastrous effects of Brexit.
The best place to start would be for the government to honour its electrification pledge by backing strategic proposals for the improvement of the railways in the Swansea Bay area.
Rail electrification should be introduced alongside the straightening of the main rail line to reduce journey times between Cardiff and Swansea by half an hour, and a Swansea Bay Metro system to connect up the region.
These proposals have been developed by Professor Mark Barry.
Increased connectivity with the rest of the UK will invigorate businesses and the economy across south Wales by connecting the region to the rest of the UK. Investment will dovetail with the Swansea City Deal, which is already generating more passenger traffic.
It provides a perfect opportunity for the government to invest in upgrading rail travel so that south Wales can grow as an investment hub. Commuter journey times would be cut by half an hour from Cardiff to Swansea by the line straightening. The Metro proposals will also connect the surrounding regions to central Swansea.
Football fans, tourists and students will be serviced by new stations at Fabian Way and the Liberty Stadium.
The former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron recognised the overwhelming business case when he pledged to extend electrification to Swansea.
He said it would provide “a huge economic boost to an area with neglected infrastructure”.
The government broke its pledge because it claimed there was no journey-time saving.
However, Prof Barry’s plans reduce journey times and will breathe new economic confidence into south Wales.
So the case against investing in electrification now fails its own test.
From Admiral and Tata Steel to Swansea University, I have talked to stakeholders from businesses, councils, universities, MPs, trade unions and AMs from across the Swansea Bay City Region and beyond about these proposals.
Our calls are gathering momentum because they will be good for people across Wales, from businesses and commuters to football fans and students.
Wales would be let down by Network Rail’s latest proposals.
It is time for the UK government to give us a fair share to boost our economy and give us the prosperity we deserve.
Geraint Davies MP is the Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament for Swansea West.