Welsh transport boss suggests giving rail staff PSV licences

James Price, chief executive, Transport for Wales, has suggested staff at train stations could be given PSV licences when rail replacement services are needed. He said this would mean they could drive passengers to locations much quicker when there are problems on the rail network.

James Price said: “Certainly when we have bus franchising, rather than being reliant on a bus operator two hours away from a rural railway station, when we have a problem – in the future we will still have problems, because a train might hit something on the line – one of the options we’re looking at is that some of our station staff could hold PSV licences and would be able to access a local bus that would be maintained and insured for us by one of our franchised provider systems. Those type of things are done elsewhere in the world, but those type of things aren’t done in the UK.”

The comments were made at the Senedd during a Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee meeting.