Ceredigion AM Elin Jones has called for full powers over railway travel to be devolved to Wales after the bid to run a direct Aberystwyth to London rail service was turned down.
The Plaid Cymru AM’s comments came after the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) rejected Arriva Trains Wales’s application to run two direct services a day between Aberystwyth and London Marylebone.
The ORR announced on Monday, 01 March 2010 that it didn’t believe that such a service would be financially viable. There were also concerns that the new service would directly compete with the Wrexham and Shropshire train service to London by calling at the same stations.
Commenting on this announcement, Plaid Cymru’s Elin Jones AM said: “I’m very disappointed that the proposals to re-introduce a direct service between Aberystwyth and London have been rejected. Local passengers have lost out on having a through-train on this route since the early 1990s and this decision highlights why responsibility over local railways should be fully devolved to Wales.
“Devolving full responsibilities for rail travel would ensure that priority is given to our needs locally rather than the priorities of a London-based regulator which, in this case, was only interested in how the proposed service would compete with other services on the English side of the border”.
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