Sir Terry Matthews: Rail electrification delays 'damaging'

Delays to electrifying the rail line between Cardiff and Swansea has created a "damaging air of uncertainty", Sir Terry Matthews has said.

The Welsh billionaire, who is chairman of Swansea Bay City Region, wants the UK government and Network Rail to give assurances the delay will be minimised.

It follows a Network Rail report which said work would not be done until 2019 and 2024.

The £2.8bn line from London to Cardiff would be delivered by March 2019.

"This is very disappointing news and creates a damaging air of uncertainty around efforts to advance the future prosperity of the Swansea Bay City Region," Sir Terry said.

"Speaking as an engineer it hardly evokes the finest traditions of Brunel."

During Chancellor George Osborne's spending review on Wednesday, the UK government reiterated it was pressing ahead with the Great Western electrification project as part of key UK infrastructure investment.

'Clarity'

The Network Rail report was published following the spending review and contained the conclusions of its chairman Sir Peter Hendy, who had been asked to look at the "deliverability and affordability" of the project.

Sir Terry added: "I understand that large infrastructure projects can sometimes end up costing more and taking longer than initially planned.

"If a delay is inevitable we must have clarity on how this will be minimised with cast iron certainty regarding the timetable for delivery."

Last week, a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report said Network Rail's severe planning and budgetary failures caused delays and could double the budget.

Between 2014 and 2015 the estimated cost increased from £1.6bn to £2.8bn, not including the extension to Swansea.

Network Rail said changes had now been been made to control costs.

The line from London to Oxford and Bristol Parkway was originally due to be electrified in 2016, to Cardiff in 2017 and Swansea in 2018.