HC Deb 30 March 1962 vol 656 c1818

3.59 p.m.

Mr. Donald Box (Cardiff, North)

I beg to move, That this House welcomes the material road improvements now taking place and in prospect in Wales, recognises the need for the closure of certain unprofitable and underemployed branch railway lines recommended by the Transport Users' Consultative Committee for Wales and Monmouthshire as a preliminary to the establishment of a compact and more effective railway system in the Principality but urges the Minister of Transport to appoint a Transport Co-ordinator for Wales whose functions will include the co-ordination of all road, rail and bus alterations during the transition stage of the next few years. Having heard a little of the previous debate I can only say how fortunate we are to live in Wales, where many of the problems we have heard aired in respect of Northern Ireland have been resolved in the past few years.

One aim of the Transport Bill, which is now in Standing Committee, is to turn British Railways into a businesslike concern. We in Wales have our part to play in bringing this about. The choice before the nation is a simple one: either we continue to subsidise the railways in their present archaic form—at the vast cost of about £150 million a year to the taxpayer—or we devise a more streamlined and compact service which is more in keeping with the competitive times of the day.

Whichever course is favoured, we cannot escape the rather anomalous position that here we have a Conservative Government, through the medium of the Minister of Transport and the Chairman of the British Transport Commission—

It being Four o'clock, Mr. SPEAKER interrupted the business.