A Plaid Cymru Senedd Member has quizzed the Labour Transport Minister over a fatal train crash in Powys.

Peredur Owen Griffiths MS asked Cabinet Secretary Ken Skates for assurances that the fault which caused two trains to collide near the village of Llanbrynmair on 21 October.

David Tudor Evans from Capel Dewi, died in the incident. A further 11 people sustained injuries which required hospital treatment.

After having a topical question accepted following the interim findings of an investigative report, Peredur said: “Crashes like this one that took place in Powys last month have thankfully become a very rare occurrence.

“It resulted in the death of a passenger, and my sympathies and condolences go out to his family and friends.

“But this could have been much worse and I worry that there is a potential for it to become more widespread given the nature of the fault.

“Inspections following the crash reveal that hoses meant to spray sands during wheel slippage were blocked. What measures will the Welsh Government take to ensure that the hoses on other Transport for Wales trains are free from similar blockages and similar faults?

“Cabinet Secretary, can you confirm whether the system failure occurred on one of the new Transport for Wales trains, and if so, will the entire new fleet be inspected for similar faults, and how would that be funded and what contractual warranties are there in place that can be called into place to fix any systematic faults?

“And further to that, what conversations and consultations have you had with rail unions and Transport for Wales staff to talk through some of the lessons to be learnt from this tragic incident?”

In response, Transport Cabinet Secretary Ken Skates said he had asked Network Rail and Transport for Wales for “an update on what they are doing in terms of advanced checks to ensure that the network and our trains that travel across our lines are as safe as they can possibly be.”

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