NATIONALISTS have condemned the Welsh government’s handling of the rail service five years after Transport for Wales (TfW) took over the country’s rail franchise.

Plaid Cymru has revealed that despite government promises that 95 per cent of rail journeys in Wales and its borders would be on new trains from 2023, only 29 per cent of TfW services have had an upgrade.

The Welsh government owns TfW, which took over the franchise from Arriva Trains in 2018. It promised customers would begin to see improved services from the outset. 

But according to Plaid Cymru, TfW consistently gains the lowest approval ratings of rail services in Britain, and stations in Wales have the highest service cancellation rate.

Plaid’s Delyth Jewell said: “Five years on, too much of the rail network in Wales can still be summarised by its old trains, late trains and huge levels of customer dissatisfaction. 

“Punctuality, reliability and frequency of services has fallen. Poor information and support for passengers during disruption is still the norm.

“I’m also concerned that the government has said that we can expect trains in Wales will get less reliable in the next five years, showing a real lack of a plan and ambition for rail in Wales.”

The BBC reported that TfW has claimed the pandemic had caused significant delays and some of its targets had been revised.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “We continue to work with Transport for Wales to introduce the £800 million of new trains into passenger service as quickly as possible.”

Plaid Cymru has called for more action to be taken by the Welsh government to improve the service and rolling stock, including the full devolution of the rail network in Wales.

“We accept that there are vast funding issues for our railways, but it’s so frustrating that the Welsh government hasn’t done more to demand the full devolution of rail,” Ms Jewell said.

Plaid also attacked the Conservative Westminster government for denying Wales consequential funding from its high-speed rail project in England.

“With the billions we’ve been denied from the HS2 project, we could develop new services and upgrades,” Ms Jewell said.