STRANDED - Kirsty Williams on the scandal of Welsh train services

3.00.04pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 16th Oct 2006

Welsh Liberal Democrat Enterprise, Innovation and Networks (EIN) spokesperson, Kirsty Williams, will demand answers from those in charge of the railways in Wales, after learning that thousands of trains never reach their destinations.

The AM will quiz the bosses of Arriva Trains Wales and Network Rail, and the Transport Minister Andrew Davies, at an EIN committee meeting on Wednesday.

Ms Williams said: "I am well aware of the many complaints made about the train service in Wales, and I also understand that there are no quick fixes or easy answers - improvements take time and finding the best way of dealing with some of these problems is complex. Huge sums of money can be involved; differing priorities of the various bodies, train operating companies, and user groups have to be reconciled.

"It is completely unacceptable, however, that over a twelve week period, nearly 2,500 journeys planned by Arriva Trains Wales failed to reach their final destination. These figures suggest serious and systemic problems with the Welsh Rail network. Now is not the time to play the 'blame game', but for all those involved in running the railways in Wales to work together to find realistic ways of improving this situation."

Notes:

§ Arriva Trains Wales and Network Rail will be attending the EIN Committee meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss the Network Rail business plan, performance against the franchise and the draft timetable for December 2006.

§ A note to committee members provided in the Minister's report to the committee states that "Between 26 June 2006 and 16 September 2006, Arriva Trains Wales planned to run 68,600 individual journeys. Of these, 2,480 journeys were cancelled before reaching their final destination and 438 journeys were cancelled prior to departure and did not run at all."