Extract from Welsh Parliament: Questions to the First Minister - Sep 21

Adam Price MS (Leader of Plaid Cymru): Diolch, Llywydd. Last week, the UK Government revealed that pollution levels from nitrogen dioxide in the new Great Western Railway's bi-mode trains were, on average, five times higher, and, at peak levels, 20 times higher than those recorded on Wales's most polluted street, Hafodyrynys Road near Crumlin—deemed so bad, it is this week being demolished. The Rail Standards and Safety Board's study was conducted only on the section of the line from Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads, where the trains mostly use their electric motors, and not along the Welsh section, where, out of necessity, diesel is largely used, and the consequent levels of pollution are likely to be even higher. Will the Welsh Government ask the board urgently to extend its monitoring to Wales—north and south—so we can know what the current position is regarding pollution on the Welsh railway network?

Mark Drakeford MS (First Minister of Wales): Well, it was dismaying, Llywydd, to see the reports of the Rail Safety and Standards Board, and it will be a very good idea indeed if they were to extend the range of their research into Wales. Because, as the leader of Plaid Cymru says, it is crystal clear, from what we have seen, that the point at which those nitrogen dioxide levels rise is the point at which trains switch from electric to diesel. What is the point at which that most often happens? Well, it's when trains enter Wales. Let me give just one set of facts, Llywydd, to demonstrate the appalling failure of the UK Government to attend adequately to Welsh needs in this area: in England, 41 per cent of the track is electrified; in Scotland, 25 per cent of the track is electrified; in Wales, 2 per cent of the track is electrified. That is the record of the Conservative Government—[Interruption.]—in the way that it's treated Wales, with its promises, Llywydd, as we remember at a general election to electrify the main line all the way to Swansea. I wouldn't be making remarks from a sedentary position if I was the leader of the opposition; I'd be keeping quiet, hoping that people don't remind him of his record.