Islwyn MP Chris Evans has penned his latest Argus column. He says:

IS THERE anything more frustrating than waiting at the train station in the morning on your way to work?

When the train finally does arrive it is late, overcrowded and expensive.

The average commuter will now be paying £2,980 for their season ticket, £786 more than in 2010.

To make matters worse the train operators have risen prices yet again this year.

The train operators will say this is to invest back into the railways, but in Wales this simply is not true.

Network Rail has claimed they will be spending £2 billion on the Wales route.

That sounds great on the face of it.

Upon closer inspection the deal does not look as good.

Wales makes up 11 per cent of the UK railways, yet this £2 billion is only six per cent of the £35 billion available for spending on the railways in the UK.

Once again, most of the spending will be in London while investment in Wales falls short.

Even as fares rise there is no improvement in services.

Overcrowding on our railways is at one of the highest levels since records began.

2018 also saw cancelled or significantly late services at their highest level in 17 years.

Meanwhile the long-proposed re-opening of the railway link between Ebbw Vale and Newport is yet to materialise.

Investment in re-opening this line would reduce traffic and help reduce air pollution.

Yet as things stand, if my constituents want to journey to Newport by train they must travel all the way to Cardiff and then back to Newport.

The time this adds to the journey is simply not feasible for many commuters.

The Ebbw Vale and Newport route needs to be reopened.

Along with this more investment must also be made into the quality and capacity of carriages.

There is something seriously wrong with the railways in the UK.

How can the government expect people to use public transport for the good of the environment while allowing it to be inefficient and expensive?

I cannot help but feel that Wales is pulling the short straw when it comes to our railways.