Creaking trains are a block on progress

THE findings of today’s report into the Wales and Borders rail franchise will not come as a shock to the thousands of passengers who have to put up with overcrowded and dirty trains.

They will welcome the Welsh Affairs Committee’s conclusion that new trains are urgently needed, but this is already clear to anyone who depends on the service.

The MPs are not exaggerating when they say it was a “huge failure” in the awarding of the last franchise not to make any allowance for an increase in passenger numbers or provide for extra train capacity.

Passenger numbers have surged by 75% since. The consequence is that people throughout this nation have been “deprived” of the service they have a right to expect.

Think of the cumulative stress that thousands of people have suffered; the knock-on effects on morale, energy, time, productivity and, potentially, prosperity; the public relations disaster that has hit Wales.

This episode highlights the critical need to have the brightest and most able people in place to scrutinise franchise agreements. The misery and grime could have been avoided.

The awarding of the new franchise gives Wales the opportunity to get the service back on track but – as the MPs rightly note – for the network to fulfil its potential, electrification must become a reality.

This episode is an example of how a lack of ambition in one area can hold back the capacity for progress. Failure to either foresee or plan for passenger growth is indicative of a pessimistic view of Wales.

We can only hope that people at every level of government are now committed to building a radically more prosperous nation in which there is strong economic growth and where people are easily able to commute between communities.

Poor transport links are an issue of social justice as they make it harder for people to grasp new job opportunities and therefore make skills shortages all the more challenging to address.

The battle for inward investment is likely to become more difficult in the years leading up to the UK’s exit from the single market. We need the best possible infrastructure to attract world-class employers.

Wretched transport systems dampen the aspirations of a nation. If people come to expect a substandard service, they will have low expectations in other areas.

The opposite can also be true. The transformation of Cardiff Bay from an area of dereliction into a cultural destination has changed the world’s perception not just of the Welsh capital but of Wales.

With the Welsh Government about to gain responsibility for rail franchising, we can only hope it will push for the best possible services. Welsh officials will not see the Wales and Border franchise as a local rail route somewhere in the UK but as a vital part of transport critical to the nation’s future.

We can hope they will work with ingenuity and resolve to ensure a new generation of trains arrive in Wales and that the mistakes of the past are never repeated. The Western Mail newspaper is published by Media Wales a subsidiary company of Trinity Mirror PLC, which is a member of IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The entire contents of The Western Mail are the copyright of Media Wales Ltd. It is an offence to copy any of its contents in any way without the company’s permission. If you require a licence to copy parts of it in any way or form, write to the Head of Finance at Six Park Street. The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2014 was 78.5%