Priorities for the future of Welsh Rail Infrastructure

However, NWEAB noted 44 that the Wales Route doesn’t coincide
with rail traffic flows in north Wales, which are largely cross-border.
Therefore, NWEAB suggested that Network Rail Wales must
develop cross-border links and co-ordinating arrangements that enable
holistic planning for the North Wales network, to avoid fragmentation
and under-investment caused by undertaking appraisals that stop at
the border. A similar view is taken by the Wrexham – Birkenhead Rail
Users’ Association (WBRUA) who stated that Network Rail Routes could
align better with rail corridors and traffic flows, rather than split them.
Unsurprisingly, given the national and international nature of the
business, the rail freight sector shares concerns about fragmentation
as a result of devolution within Network Rail.
DfT’s written evidence outlined Network Rail’s plans for “deeper
devolution” within the organisation announced in 2015. This included
the creation of a new Route Services Directorate (RSD) to enable routes
to identify which services should be centrally provided, and which at
route level. Additionally, Network Rail planning will divide into 8 units
based on the current route structure to allow benchmarking and
demonstrate that route services are competitive.
Centralisation concerns
ATW felt that the Wales Route is restricted by the funding
allocated from Network Rail centrally. It also queried whether, as part
of Network Rail’s route devolution, each route should have the
resources to deliver large scale infrastructure changes. If not, it
believed that Wales would remain beholden to Network Rail central
project teams for the delivery of critical Welsh projects. Similar
concerns were raised by Professor Stuart Cole:
“On major projects managed by Wales and West Division the
management is not devolved […]The head of the…[Cardiff
Areas Signalling Renewal] project does not report to the Wales
route, but to the [Network Rail] Head Office. This also applies
to [Newport Area Signalling Renewal] and the Port Talbot
rebuilding. It is therefore harder for the [Welsh Government] to
control renewals and enhancements and harder for the major
44
Written evidence, NWEAB.
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