The Welsh Government has criticised Whitehall for the time being taken to progress key infrastructure schemes, reports Passenger Transport.
Much of the frustration rests on the devolution of the Core Valley Lines infrastructure to Transport for Wales, on which a decision is still pending by the Secretary of State for Transport. Welsh Government had aimed for a transfer of assets from Network Rail by September 20, but this is believed to have been delayed after objections were received from freight operators.
January 31 is the current target of TfW and NR, although this timeline is now thought to be unachievable following Grant Shapps’ failure to approve the transfer before Parliament was dissolved ahead of the General Election on December 12.
The Department for Transport says there has been no delay to the process, which had always been scheduled to take place on or before March 31 2020.
We've read it in: Passenger Transport, November 15 2019, p9
