Rail scheme funds at risk
DELAYS to the £750m upgrade of the Core Valley Lines could mean that about £50m of funding is lost, an internal document has revealed.
The EU funding applies to the lines from Cardiff to Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil.
MAJOR delays to the longawaited £750m upgrade of the Core Valley Lines could mean that about £50m of European Union funding is lost, an internal document has revealed.
After Covid-19 temporarily affected work on electrifying and improving the rail infrastructure north of Cardiff, the EU pushed back the deadline for completing the EUfunded package by six months, to June 2023.
However, Transport for Wales (TfW) believes almost half of the projects in that package may not be finished until after June 2023. TfW’s board members have been warned of a “potential loss of funding of around £50m”.
The EU funding only applies to the lines from Cardiff to Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil, where tram-trains will be introduced.
Electrification from Cardiff to Rhymney and Coryton, where “tri-mode” electric-batter y-diesel trains will operate, is due to follow the work on the tram-train lines.
The delay to the tramtrain package suggests that the Rhymney and Coryton lines may not be completed by late 2023, the target for introducing trimode trains.
With some of the EU funding now at risk, TfW and the Welsh Government is exploring projects with “less of an economic benefit that could be paused or terminated to release capital funding” for the Valley Lines.
This could prove controversial in the areas affected, particularly if money is seen to be switched from other regions to the Cardiff city region.
Even within south-east Wales, some rail users are unhappy that busy services such as Maesteg to Cardiff remain at hourly frequency while Rhymney – which has already had Welsh Government investment to enable half-hourly services – is due to receive additional infrastructure for four trains per hour.
The Government aims to provide four trains per hour to Cardiff from each Heads of the Valleys terminus on the Core Valley Lines, as part of its South Wales Metro plan to boost economic growth and job opportunities and reduce road pollution and congestion.
TfW has been reluctant to reveal the extent of delays to the Core Valley Lines upgrade – even to the Welsh Parliament.
Last month, TfW chief executive James Price told a Parliamentary scrutiny committee that progress was visible at Taff’s Well, where a tram-train depot is being built.
“So Metro continues, I think that’s the headline approach on that, but there may be some slippage in the timelines of the final delivery of it, mainly because of knock-on effects of suppliers from elsewhere,” he said.
“But those slippages will not be significant in the overall scheme of things, and there’s likely to be a marginal impact on the price as well, but it’s looking like a marginal impact, not a significant impact. So, those are good things.”
However, the official record of TfW’s board meeting in May – two months before Mr Price’s evidence to the committee – reveals: “Having undertaken the high-level rescheduling of the programme, the project team has initially identified that four of the nine ERD funded projects could exceed the June 2023 milestone, which could lead to a potential loss of funding of around £50m.”
The ERD funding is the £164m of European Regional Development funding which originally depended on the tramtrains carrying passengers by December 2022.
The Wales European Funding Office (WEFO) had deferred the deadline by six months, but TfW’s board was informed: “Discussions continue with WEFO over a further extension of the milestone. Cost increases have been discussed with the Welsh Government.”
Board members were also told: “Work is now under way to re-baseline the whole programme which could be a three or four month exercise.”
TfW and the Welsh Government are unable or unwilling to say which projects, or which types of projects, could be paused or terminated to release capital funding for the Core Valley Lines.
Asked whether TfW had conducted analysis this year of possible reductions in the scope of the upgrade, a TfW spokesman said: “Yes, this work has commenced, and we are continuing to review with our funders.
“Like any major project developed over a number of years and with this level of complexity, there are a number of ways to deliver the same broad outcomes, which we are still working through.
“We remain committed to delivery of the CVL [Core Valley Lines] transformation as a key component of the next phase of the South Wales Metro.”