1st Report - The cancellation of rail electrification in South Wales

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government states it is "confident that its decision not to progress with electrification between Cardiff and Swansea is the correct one", and mostly agrees "in principle" with the Committee's recommendations.

• On reviewing the enhancements pipeline, it agrees in principle but says a review after 12 months is "premature"; it "intends to undertake a review after the first complete year of CP6 (April 2020)".
• On a revised route study for Wales within 12 months, it agrees in principle but says it "would be premature to commit to a 12 month deadline" until industry has identified the requirements for future work.
• It "disagrees" with devolving responsibility for rail infrastructure to the National Assembly for Wales, saying it "do[es] not intend to revisit the question of devolving Network Rail funding".
• It has committed funding to develop Strategic Outline Business Cases for six Welsh rail schemes, with investment "subject to their affordability and value for money".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error