Following recent calls by a North Wales MP for the promised direct rail link between Llandudno and Liverpool to be introduced earlier, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has today asked the Minister for North Wales in the Welsh Government to support his plea.
Speaking in a UK Parliament debate last month, Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies called for hourly rail services between Llandudno and Liverpool, which have been promised from the end of 2023, to be brought forward.
In today’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood raised the MP’s request and asked the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd, Lesley Griffiths MS, if she would join him in calling on Transport for Wales to bring forward the start date.
He said:
“Speaking in last month's Westminster Hall Debate on Transport Connectivity in Merseyside, Vale of Clwyd MP, James Davies, who, topically, also Chairs the Mersey Dee North Wales All-Party Parliamentary Group, called for hourly rail services between Llandudno and Liverpool, which had been promised from the end of 2023, to be brought forward, stating:
'Direct rail services from the North Wales coast ceased in the 1970s. Thanks to the reopening of the Halton Curve, hourly services are promised from Llandudno to Liverpool, although not, I think, until December 2023. Will the Minister join me in calling on Transport for Wales to bring that forward if it can?’
“Well, thanks to the £14.5 million Halton Curve project, funded through the UK Government’s Local Growth Funding awarded to the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, direct daily services between Wrexham and Liverpool, which you know of, were introduced in 2019, but the promised direct services between Llandudno and Liverpool are not expected until the back end of next year.
“What discussions are you therefore having with your Cabinet colleagues regarding an earlier introduction of the service by Welsh Government-owned Transport for Wales, to help build our region back from the pandemic, attract visitors, boost the local economy and encourage more people on to rail for the good of the environment?”
In her response, the Minister confirmed “our commitment is to deliver a new hourly service between Liverpool and Llandudno from December 2023”, but deflected calls for Welsh Government-owned Transport for Wales to introduce the service sooner by instead claiming that the UK Government need “to fulfil their responsibilities for improving the rail network in Wales”.