TfW FOI Request - Bridgend to Aberdare Service

Date issued: 13 June 2019

Thank you for your email of 15 May asking for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

You asked for:

• Evidence that these housing developments have been considered and what the related plans to address the increase in usage are, including meeting minutes and agreed actions.
• What the specific plan is for this line, when increases to capacity will be implemented. Please include specific dates of implementation.
• Details on research undertaken and how any planned increase in line capacity will actually meet the increased number of passengers.

I can confirm that Transport for Wales holds some of information relevant to your request:

Evidence that these housing developments have been considered and what the related plans to address the increase in usage are, including meeting minutes and agreed actions.
New housing developments were taken into account in the tender process / bids for the Wales & Borders rail franchise contract. Bidders for the contract used their own forecasting /modelling for this purpose.

The information in the bids for the Wales & Borders rail franchise contract is confidential and is the intellectual property of the individual bidders in question. This information has therefore been withheld under Section 41(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act (as explained below), as it is information that was provided in confidence. It is our view that disclosure of this information would constitute an actionable breach of confidence and so disclosure would also be unlawful under the Act. In these circumstances, Section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act confers an absolute exemption on disclosure and there is no public interest test to apply.

Section 41 – information provided in confidence

Section 41 (1) provides that information is exempt if:

(a) It was obtained by the public authority from any other person (including another public authority), and

(b) The disclosure of the information to the public (otherwise than under this Act) by the public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.

Separately to this forecasting / modelling carried out by bidders, work was carried out for Transport for Wales relating primarily to access to Cardiff Airport and the St. Athan Enterprise Zone. The report concluded that in the short term, a second train per hour is needed on the Vale of Glamorgan line partly because demand from non-airport passengers will be much greater than airport-related travel. This is partly due key developments in the Rhoose / Llantwit Major areas.

What the specific plan is for this line, when increases to capacity will be implemented. Please include specific dates of implementation. The Vale of Glamorgan line will have its train service frequency doubled in December 2023, from one train per hour to two trains per hour.

Details on research undertaken and how any planned increase in line capacity will actually meet the increased number of passengers.

The research undertaken in relation to how any planned increase in line capacity will actually meet the increased number of passengers formed part of the forecasting / modelling in the individual bids for the Wales & Borders rail franchise contract.

The information in the bids for the Wales & Borders rail franchise contract is confidential and is the intellectual property of the individual bidders in question. This information has therefore been withheld under Section 41(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act (as explained above), as it is information that was provided in confidence. It is our view that disclosure of this information would constitute an actionable breach of confidence and so disclosure would also be unlawful under the Act. In these circumstances, Section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act confers an absolute exemption on disclosure and there is no public interest test to apply.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Transport for Wales.

Yours sincerely

Transport for Wales