Member of the Senedd for Monmouth, Peter Fox, has written to the Welsh Government following a number of recent incidents on the Welsh Marches Line.
The line, which runs through Monmouthshire, providing services towards Cardiff from Manchester and the North of Wales, has seen major disruption over the past few weeks.
The most notable incidents have been the structural issues to a bridge outside Cardiff Central, and a collapsed culvert North of Hereford, both of which saw a dramatic reduction in services, and a significant amount of trains cancelled.
In his letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Mr Fox indicated that whilst incidents such as these are not-preventable, there does appear to be a lack of resilience on the line. He further pointed out that any problem on the line has a dramatic effect across the whole Welsh network.
Peter asked the Cabinet Secretary for action to ensure there is resilience across our railway network, to ensure that when incidents do occur, they have a minimal impact on passengers.
Local MS for Monmouth, Peter Fox, has said:
“Our railways are crucial to commuters and tourists across Wales. I have two major stations in my constituency, in Abergavenny and Chepstow, which for a lot of people are their only way of commuting.
“We have seen a lot of bad news around recent incidents on the Welsh Marches Line, and whilst these examples were not necessarily preventable, the knock on effect is something that needs to be addressed.
“Passengers were held up for hours, if not days by these problems, impacting on the whole network and effecting others across Wales.
“I have written to the Welsh Government to ask for action to improve our resilience, to ensure that when incidents happen, passengers impact is minimalised.”
