Caerphilly AM Jeff Cuthbert has called on Arriva Trains Wales to do more to clean-up Hengoed train station.
Mr Cuthbert said he had been contacted by constituents angry at the state of the station.
He said: “I was recently contacted by a constituent who uses Hengoed railway station to commute into Cardiff on a daily basis.
“She told me that the station environment is very untidy with litter lying around on the floor; a persistent smell of urine; and people regularly smoking, despite ‘No Smoking’ signs and a clear CCTV presence.
“It’s not enough for train operating companies [TOCs] to just blame this on a lack of funding from the Welsh Government. TOCs know full well that they have a duty to maintain railway stations for which they are responsible, particularly in the case where stations are unmanned.
“I will be watching closely to make sure that ATW does more to clean up Hengoed station and holding them to account if they don’t.”
A spokesman for Arriva Trains Wales said: “Arriva Trains Wales has dedicated cleaning staff who visit all unstaffed stations, including Hengoed, at least twice a week to ensure that cleanliness standards are maintained to a high level in accordance with the franchise agreement.
“Unstaffed stations are a challenge to maintain to the highest standards as they are vulnerable to the same types of antisocial behaviour and litter problems of any public place.
“Regular inspections and monitoring of customer feedback help us to ensure that all stations receive regular planned visits as well as extra visits when necessary. This helps us maintain our high scores in the regular national passenger survey, which specifically looks at cleanliness of stations.
“Arriva Trains Wales staff work hard and take pride in the stations they care for, and we are always looking for further ways to improve facilities for customers both through partnership working and our own investments.”
Since the railways have been privatised Hengoed Station is not the responsibilty of the Government, Whitehall or Cardiff Bay, so whats the point of asking an AM to interfere in the behaviour of a private company?.
Because they are heavily financially subsidised by the public purse perhaps,??
Because Assembly Member Jeff Cuthbert has been asked to do so by his constituents??
Perhaps even because he shares a sense of concern at the state of this hub to the Hengoed Community. used by many hundreds of citizens every day. And viewed, whilst passing through, of many thousands of Caerphilly Citizens every day.
And it may even be because he feels that the company who now has responsibility for this community facility have an obligation to ensure its presentation as a public facility is reasonably maintained, and cleaned, ( so that the poor ratepayers of the borough dont have to pick up the bill for doing so)
I suspect that if this state of affairs reflected Caerphilly Station it would attract a very different response from John Owen. Perhaps even an accusation that the AM was oblivious to it? who knows.
Since the Hengoed Station, like Caerphilly Station is private property, and not a community facility, the maintenance and cleaning is the responsibility of the owner, and I would have thought a local AM would ahve ahd better things to do.