The Conservatives’ shadow transport secretary accused the Welsh Government of painting a rosy picture of Transport for Wales that could hardly be further from the truth.

Natasha Asghar criticised a Welsh Government statement for singing the praises of TfW as a beacon for the benefits of a publicly owned rail operator.

Pressing her opposite number, Ken Skates, she said: “It did hit home with me … because I did feel, were we in fact talking about the same TfW?

“Because the one I know lost some £300m last year, has been bailed out to the tune of £125m, has coughed up £1.8m in delay repay compensation in just one year, and spent nearly £100,000 a month in just software alone, with taxpayers footing the bill for all of this.”

Ms Asghar said TfW was described as the most reliable operator in Wales – yet polling showed 45 per cent of 1,000 people surveyed felt otherwise.

She warned that people in north Wales feel short-changed on transport spending compared with south Wales, urging Mr Skates to end the discrepancy.

Peredur Owen Griffiths quizzed Mr Skates about GBR Cymru – a proposed division of the UK Government’s Great British Railways, which will bring rail services into public ownership.

“GBR Cymru, without real fiscal clout, is just an empty promise,” he said.

Plaid Cymru’s shadow transport secretary suggested full devolution of rail infrastructure to Wales is off the cards despite the recommendation of an independent commission.

In his statement to the Senedd on 24 September, Ken Skates said having two Labour governments working together is already making a difference.

Wales’ transport secretary pointed to the UK Government’s passenger services bill which will “call time” on private franchises and bring rail services back into the public sector.

Mr Skates said TfW is consistently one of the most reliable operators in Wales, with an 80 per cent increase in the number of rail carriages on the network.

He said next year’s UK rail reform bill offers a huge opportunity to fundamentally reform the operating model in Wales, “the most complex of all UK nations”.