Great Western Railway Line
Transport
Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, Plaid Cymru)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to electrify the Great Western Main Line between London and Swansea.
Theresa Villiers (Minister of State (Rail and Aviation), Transport; Chipping Barnet, Conservative)
The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend Mr Hammond, has confirmed funding for the electrification of the Great Western Main Line between London and Cardiff.
The Government currently have no plans for further electrification between Cardiff and Swansea because we believe that all the benefits that would result from electrification to Swansea can be delivered using a combination of electrification to Cardiff and deployment of new IEP bi-mode trains, switching seamlessly from electric to diesel traction at Cardiff.
We expect new electric and bi-mode train fleet to be deployed on the Great Western by 2017. This will increase capacity and cut journey times between Swansea and London by 20 minutes. The new trains will thus give passengers the same benefits as a fully electric fleet.