Senedd: Minister challenged over “unreliable” Borderlands Line rail service

A Senedd Member has called for the Welsh Government to respond to concerns raised regarding unannounced reductions in rail services in north-east Wales last weekend.

Speaking in Tuesday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood referred to a Deeside.com report which followed comments from the Wrexham-Bidston Rail Users’ Association saying that Transport for Wales ‘appears incapable’ of providing passengers with a reliable service, following recent disruptions to the Borderlands line running between Wrexham, Shotton and Bidston on the Wirral.

Calling for a statement on rail services in north-east Wales during the Business Statement, Mr Isherwood also called for the Welsh Government to respond to further concerns raised by the Association that long-promised service improvements for the region have still not been realised.

“In fact, the Users’ Association contacted me afterwards and said that the reduced service is also now being shown on the line on Sunday, and there’s an intimation on social media that 150s from the Wrexham-Bidston and Conwy Valley lines have been redeployed to south Wales because of the football match in Cardiff.”

“Quote: ‘The Wrexham-Bidston line service continues to be perceived in the communities it serves as unreliable, and most of the long-promised service improvements have yet to be realised. This is not the sort of service your constituents should expect from Transport for Wales. Any assistance you could give to seek immediate and sustained improvements to passenger information and service reliability, through the Senedd, would be greatly appreciated’.

“So, I call for a Statement from the Minister for Climate Change, or her Deputy, to explain what happened and to answer the concerns raised by the Rail Users’ Association regarding the service last weekend again being faced with such circumstances.”

Responding, the Trefnydd and Minister for North Wales, Lesley Griffiths MS, said: “we have seen some disruption, not just in north-east Wales, but across all parts of Wales over the past few days.”

She added:  “You will have heard the First Minister saying in answer to Andrew R.T. Davies that there had been some disruption in relation to Transport for Wales.”

“And I agree with what the First Minister said around a lack of information. It doesn’t cost much to make sure that information is out, and I think Transport for Wales will be able to learn from the lack of information that they gave to passengers over the weekend. ”