North Wales Liberal Democrat AM Aled Roberts has attacked the proposal of Arriva Trains Wales to cut from December this year the 06.34 direct service from Llandudno to Manchester.
This will mean anyone trying to commute to Manchester will have to change at Chester and set off about an hour earlier. There will be no commuting service from Abergele.
“Despite calls from many politicians in North Wales for more cross border services, Arriva Trains Wales are planning to cut our services making it even harder for people to find work outside North Wales,” commented Aled Roberts. “Such a dramatic change calls into question how serious Arriva Trains Wales are about generating commuter traffic.
“But this is not the only cross border service to be cut. Arriva Trains Wales are also considering canceling the 07.49 from Wrexham to Birmingham when a new timetable is issued in May 2015.
“These proposals by Arriva Trains Wales beg the question: who is looking after the interests of North Wales’ rail commuters? The Llandudno train to Manchester may be used to form a new service from South Wales to Manchester and the Wrexham train will probably be used on a new Aberystwyth service.
“I will be asking a question of the Transport Minister, Edwina Hart, about what representations she has made in response to the timetable changes being proposed by Arriva Trains Wales. But more fundamentally the Welsh Government needs to make preparations to negotiate a new rail franchise.
“The current Rail and Borders franchise was negotiated by the last Labour Government before devolution. Amazingly it was agreed on the basis of no planned improvements despite funding levels higher than in England. It comes to an end in 2018 and the Welsh Government must start to plan for a major rethink in consultation with passengers and other interested parties.”
