£600m South Wales Metro 'must deliver on time'

Manchester is one of the UK cities which has been developing a metro system that can run on converted railway tracks and on city centre streets

The £600m to be spent developing a metro transport for south east Wales must deliver "on budget and on time," ministers have been warned.

A mix of light rail, trams, improved trains and faster buses is expected by 2020 in Cardiff and the valleys.

Opposition politicians welcomed the announcement by the Welsh government.

But they said it needed to be well planned and affordable, and said more details were needed about the route.

The metro is in addition to planned rail electrification and will run as a "not-for-dividend" part of the next all-Wales rail franchise from 2018.

Economy Minister Edwina Hart has tasked rail and business experts to finalise plans before work starts in 2017.

She said she wanted it to be a blueprint for transport in other parts of Wales.

Conservative Shadow Minister for Business, Enterprise and Transport William Graham AM welcomed the announcement, but stressed the importance of its delivery.

"It is vital the project is delivered on budget and on time where schemes like the one in Edinburgh have notably failed," he said.

"I do have some concerns that we are seemingly no closer to learning what type of rolling stock the scheme will employ, or any significant detail surrounding the route.

"It is also important that the network is attractive to a range of public transport users."

He said the metro's route must be well planned and affordable if it was to become a "viable alternative" to cars for Cardiff's commuters.

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies AM tweeted: "Ability of the metro to drive the economy of South Wales forward with a dynamic and integrated transport system should not be underestimated".

Plaid Cymru's economy and transport spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth AM said it was an exciting project that had to be "usable and affordable".

But he also called for transport spending to be spread around Wales as a whole, with a cheaper alternative to the £1bn M4 relief road freeing up more money.

"Whilst the metro is the right project for that region, the government must remember that other parts of Wales also need solutions," he said.

Welsh Liberal Democrats economy spokeswoman Eluned Parrott AM said people still wanted a "clear idea" of what the metro map would look like and she was frustrated by a lack of definitive detail despite three years of reports.

"I want to see it transform our communities and bring prosperity, that we're desperate to see especially at the top end of the Valleys where people feel they're so badly disconnected, and the east of Cardiff where a bus can take an hour to get from the suburbs to the city centre."

Mrs Hart said the wider map would be looked at by the autumn and the Welsh government was going out to the market to see what it could offer for the money available.