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The UK Government should look into reopening the railway line through Nelson to passengers, according to Plaid Cymru Senedd Members.
Caerphilly’s new MS Lindsay Whittle, and South Wales East MSs Delyth Jewell and Peredur Owen Griffiths, have written to Lord Hendy, the UK Government’s rail minister, calling for feasibility study on the idea.
The line, which is still used by freight trains, runs between Ystrad Mynach Railway Station and Merthyr Tydfil, passing through Nelson, Trelewis, Bedlinog.
The former Nelson and Llancaiach Railway Station, which was on Tawel Fan, opened in 1912 but closed in 1964.
Mr Whittle said: “There is still an old line and track close to Nelson, which makes reopening this line much easier than many other projects.
“Connecting Nelson to the network would make sense and take pressure off our congested roads.”
Ms Jewell, who has a constituency office in Nelson, explained: “We don’t have powers over major rail schemes the UK department delivers, so train projects like HS2 are classified as England and Wales when the formula is applied.
“And that’s different from Scotland and Northern Ireland where heavy rail is devolved and, therefore, they do get Barnett-based funding.”
What is the Barnett Formula?
The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland receive grants from the UK Government that fund most of their spending. The largest such grant is the ‘block grant’.
The Barnett formula calculates the annual change in the block grant. The formula doesn’t determine the total size of the block grant just the yearly change. For devolved services, the Barnett formula aims to give each country the same pounds-per-person change in funding.
The Barnett formula takes the annual change in a UK government department’s budget and multiplies it by two figures that take into account the relative population of the devolved administration (population proportion) and the extent to which the UK department’s services are devolved (comparability percentage). The calculation is carried out for each UK department and the amount reached is added to the devolved administrations’ block grant.
For Wales and Northern Ireland the formula includes a needs based factor, which recognises the additional relative spending need of both. Northern Ireland’s formula also includes a factor recognising that the Northern Ireland Executive gets VAT refunds from more of its spending.
She added: “The system of rail funding is a huge injustice for Wales. Wales misses out by billions of pounds of investment because Wales has to pay for spending on major projects in England.”
The Core Valleys Lines are the exception to this, where ownership transferred to the Welsh Government in 2020.
The Welsh Government also has powers to procure and manage the Wales and Borders Rail Franchise.
Meanwhile, Mr Owen Griffiths, who is Plaid’s transport spokesperson, called for a “fair deal on funding for our railways”.
He said: “The £445m announced in the UK Spending Review for rail is not an allocation based on the need, network condition, population, and network length in Wales.
“There has been no real change in the rail funding for Wales despite a change in the colour of the party in government in Westminster, partly because the Welsh Government and the Senedd does not have powers over the rail infrastructure.”
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