ELECTRIFICATION OF THE NORTH WALES LINE

That this House welcomes the long overdue electrification of the South Wales Main Line; notes that the North Wales Line is vitally important to North Wales businesses and travelling public and international travellers to Irelandand potentially of European importance to freight transport; further notes that the Government intends to spend 33 billion on High Speed 2 and that Wales' fair share of that spending, as estimated at 300 million by Professor Stuart Cole of the Welsh Transport Research Group, would be more than enough to electrify the North Wales Line; believes that the next improvement to the Welsh railway network should be the electrification of the North Wales Line from Chester to Holyhead; and calls on both the UK Government and the Welsh Government to begin preparatory studies to this end immediately.